Aston, PA --  The Philadelphia Little Flyers begin their push to Providence and the Frozen Finals on Thursday in their opening playoff game of the post season.  Since January 17th, the Little Flyers have been on fire, winning 16 of their last 18 games of the season to finish with a record of 30-14-2.  In a dramatic finish to the season, Adam Beauvais scored an overtime goal in the final game of the season to clinch the #1 seed in the South for the Little Flyers.  This sets up a first-round matchup with South Division rival, Team Maryland. 

Hockey Night in Boston Beat Writer, Anthony Di Paolo previewed the series with keys to the series for both teams:

SOUTH DIVISION 

#1 Philadelphia Little Flyers (30-12-4) vs. #4 Team Maryland (25-19-2)
Regular season series: Little Flyers 4-2-2 over Maryland

Why the Little Flyers will win: The Little Flyers are challenging the old saying that ‘defense wins championships,’ as they’re the only team in the league that scored more than 200 goals in the regular season. Four players—Kyle Patton, Savva Smirnov, Jordan Comilla and Adam Beauvais—notched at least 50 points and 10 players on the Little Flyers scored at least 10 goals. Forward Connor MacDonnell and defenseman Chris Blango both provided a huge boost for Philadelphia midway through the season and have produced more than a point per game, and Joseph Henson emerged as their number-one goaltender with a 2.18 goals against average and .922 save percentage. The Little Flyers also had the best penalty kill in the league, operating at 91.5 percent. They won 16 of their last 18 games of the season to overtake the 87’s for the top seed in the South, and they hope to use their momentum and sheer firepower to move on to Providence.

Why Team Maryland will win: Don’t be fooled by the #4 next to their name, Team Maryland is the best "last-place" team in the EHL. Defenseman Alex Newton and forward Nick Graziano both led the team in points with 35 each, and Patrick Doyle became a point-per-game player after he was traded to Maryland from New Jersey. Bobby Geier and Evan Donnelly have both provided leadership as third-year veterans for the team while scoring 12 and 14 goals this season respectively, and their experience could help this team shake off a six-game losing streak to end the regular season, which also happened last year before sweeping the Connecticut RoughRiders. Maryland could also have answer to the Little Flyers’ offense with goaltender Jackson Bernard. He has struggled a bit since joining Maryland, but if he bounces back and looks like the goaltender who averaged 41 saves per game for Apple Core, then Team Maryland could win its first division title in their four-year history.

Regular Season Series Results:
9/27/21 Team Maryland (5) @ Little Flyers (4) OVERTIME
10/12/21  Little Flyers (4) @ Team Maryland (5) OVERTIME
11/2/21  Team Maryland (3) @ Little Flyers (1)
12/6/21 Team Maryland (2) @ Little Flyers (4)
1/20/22 Little Flyers (5) @ Team Maryland (0)
2/1/22 Team Maryland (3) @ Little Flyers (0)
2/21/22 Little Flyers (8) @ Team Maryland (3)
3/1/22 Little Flyers (4) @ Team Maryland (2)

Playoff Series Schedule:
Game 1 Thursday March 10, 2022 12:00 PM at Piney Orchard Arena

Game 1 Friday March 11, 2022 4:15 PM at IceWorks Skating Complex

Game 3* Monday March 14, 2022 2:30 PM at IceWorks Skating Complex

All Games can be seen live on Hockey TV.