Aston, PA -- Coming off of two big Divisional Wins, the Little Flyers would play three games in five days including the final showcase of 2016 in Simsbury, CT.  First, the Little Flyers traveled to New Jersey for a Wednesday afternoon game against Mid-Atlantic Division rival New Jersey Rockets. 

            The mid-week game at the Rockets home rink would be a battle from start to finish in an exciting game between two teams that know each other very well.  Defenseman Ian Kwant would get the Little Flyers on the Baird first just four and a half minutes into the game on a shot from just above the top of the face off circle.  Kwant' third goal of the seas was assisted by forwards Brett Abdelnour and Trevor Coykendall.  The Kwant goal would be the Little Flyers only scoring of the first period even though they outshot the Rockets 21-6 in the period.  On the offensive end for the Rocket they would tie the game eight minutes after the Kwant goal to tie the game at 1-1.  With less than two minutes to play in the first the Rockets took the lead on a goal from Angelo Marquart.  Heading into the fire to intermission Rocky Russo's Little Flyers found themselves trailing 2-1 but tripling the Rockets in shot on goal. 

            The Rockets looked to add to their lead in the first few minutes of play in the second period but Little Flyers goaltender Joe Giacobbo (12-0) had the answer in net making some big saves to keep his team only trailing by one.  A Rockets elbowing penalty would send the Little Flyers to the power play.  Pressuring the Rockets in their own zone with the man advantage, Little Flyers captain Peter Hatton got the puck to Alex Peterson in the right circle, Peterson would control the puck and fire it high and into the back of the net for his 11th goal of the season, Oliver Arnberg was also credited with an assist on the play.  A minute and a half later the Rockets leading scorer, Donny Flynn would regain the lead for his team on an even strength goal.  Both teams had power play opportunities late in the period but neither could capitalize. 

            A second period Rockets penalty that carried over to the third put the Little Flyers on the power play early.  Hard work by Jamie Bucell and Joey Savel around the net got the puck to Ziki Mroz who crept in from his blue line position to find the puck on the back side and fire it home to tie the game up at 3-3 just thirty nine seconds into the period.  The teams remained deadlocked at 3-3 for the next ten minutes with neither team willing to give an inch in the defensive zone.  The line of Nate Rogers, Jamie Bucell and Oliver Arnberg would come through for Philadelphia as Bucell came from behind the net with the puck and passed it through the crease to Rogers on the doorstep.  Rogers put the puck in the net for his 9th goal of the season putting the Little Flyers up 4-3 with half a period to play.  Giacobbo would maintain the lead making crucial saves on a Rockets power play opportunity with less than five minutes left in the game.  With the Rockets goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker Rogers would find the back of the net again for a big insurance goal with only thirty seconds remaining, once again Bucell and Arnberg added assists on the play.  Giacobbo would hold on to improve his record to an impressive 13-0 on the season while making 34 saves in the game.

            After two days back at home for practice, the Little Flyers would head to Simsbury, CT Friday night ahead of snow that was in the forecast for two games at the Eastern Hockey League's December Showcase, the final one of the 2016 calendar year.  League Showcase events feature all of the leagues teams playing multiple games in a weekend in the same building in front of numerous college scouts.  The games consist of 2-25 minute halves instead of the traditional 3-20 minute periods we are used to seeing.  In game one of the Showcase the Little Flyers faced one of the top teams in the North Conference in the Northern Cyclones.

            Sam Kany, would get the start in net for the Little Flyers Saturday against the Cyclones.  This game wouldn't get off to the start the Little Flyers had hoped for as they found themselves down 1-0 just over two minutes into the first half.  Early in the game Philadelphia hammered the Cyclones goaltender with shots from all angles but couldn't find the back of the net.  The first man advantage of the day gave the Little Flyers an opportunity to tie the game.  Early in the power play Little Flyers players were sneaking into wide open areas on the backside with little attention from Cyclones defenders.  Alex Peterson would take advantage, as Oliver Arnberg delivered the puck to a wide open Peterson all by himself backdoor to tie the game at 1-1.  Little Flyers leader in assists Peter Hatton also received an assist on the play.  The goal was Peterson's 12th of the season and 7th on the power play.  Sometimes you don't notice the little things in games that winning teams are very good at, like winning face-offs.  With the teams skating four aside with five minutes left in the first half and a face-off deep in the Cyclones zone, Peter Hatton won the draw back to defenseman Cameron Bartkoski who passed it along to defensive partner Ian Kwant at the blue line.  With traffic heavy traffic in front of the net Kwant released a wrister that found its way past the Cyclones netminder and into the net to give the Little Flyers their first lead of the game.  That would be all the scoring in the first half, as the Little Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

            With the next goal in the game being huge for both sides, they relied heavily on their goaltender in the second half.  Both Kany for the Little Flyers and Austin Smith for the Cyclones came up big as both goaltenders stopped all pucks that came their way through the first twenty one minutes of play in the half.  The Little Flyers were finally able to cash in on an opportunity as they were on the power play with just over three minutes remaining in the game.  Joey Savel won a face-off with Jamie Bucell pinching into the circle, he tapped the puck back to Ziki Mroz on the blue line who passed it over to Cameron Bartkoski, Bartkoski dished the puck back to Mroz who unloaded a slap shot through the traffic of Savel and Bucell in front of the net to give the Little Flyers a 3-1 lead.  The goal was Mroz's 7th of the season.  Christian Karbler would add an empty net insurance goal for the Little Flyers to win the team's 26th straight game.  With the win Kany, improved to 13-0-1 on the season. 

            Sunday would be the last time the Little Flyers would be on the ice as a team in 2016 with their final game of the season against the New England Wolves.  On paper this game looked like a mismatch with the Little Flyers being 26-0-1 and the Wolves with a 4-21-3 record on the season.  The Wolves came out ready to play and competed from the opening whistle to the final buzzer with Joe Giacobbo and the Little Flyers in a Sunday morning matchup.  The aforementioned Giacobbo was in net looking to head into 2017 with a perfect 14-0 record.  The Wolves came out of the gate playing an aggressive style as they pressured the Little Flyers in their zone, cycling the puck down low and trying to prevent the Little Flyers from successfully breaking out of their zone with the puck.  The Little Flyers had the first power play chance of the day but were unable to convert.  The game would remain scoreless through the first eighteen minutes of play with both Giacobbo and the Wolves Kevin LaCroix stopping all shots that came their way.  The Little Flyers top line of Christian Karbler, Alex Peterson and Peter Hatton would break the scorelees tie at the 17:47 mark of the first half.  Hatton brought the puck out of the Little Flyers zone and dished it cross ice to Peterson through the neutral zone; Peterson gained the Wolves blue line and sent a pass to the slot for Karbler who was charging towards the net with a Wolves defender on his back.  Karbler got his stick on the puck and deflected it through LaCroix’s five hole to take the lead.  That would be all the scoring for the first half as Giacobbo saved all 6 shots on goal he faced in the half.

            With both teams only have one power play chance in the first half; the second half would be a much different story.  The Little Flyers were on the man advantage just 1:10 into the second half but it was Giacobbo for the Little Flyers who was challenged to make the big save as the Wolves came in on a 2-on-1 and Giacobbo made a pad save to keep the 1-0 lead.  With seconds remaining in the man advantage and the Little Flyers pressuring the Wolves, New England was assessed a five minute major for head contact.  While the Little Flyers got several good scoring chances on the man advantage they were unable to capitalize as the Wolves scrappy defense were up to the challenge early in the second half.  The Little Flyers found themselves back on the power play at the 9:52 mark after a Wolves boarding minor.  A shot from Cameron Bartkoski at the Point was initially saved by LaCroix but Peter Hatton was battling in front of the net.  Hatton was digging for the puck and was able to puck the rebound into the back of the net to give the Little Flyers a 2-0 lead.  The goal was Hatton’s 10th of the season.  That would be all the scoring for the game as Giacobbo was solid in net for the Little Flyers saving all nine shots he faced in the second half.  The shutout, Giacobbo’s league leading 5th of the season was also his league leading 14th win of the season (14-0).

            Once back in Aston, the Little Flyers players and staff went their separate ways for the Holidays as most of the players are returning home to spend some much earned quality time with family and friends.  The first half of the season was a memorable one, after losing the first game of the season 3-2 in overtime the Little Flyers have been perfect, winning an impressive 27 straight wins.  The one two punch of Joe Giacobbo (14-0) and Sam Kany (13-0-1) in net are causing nightmares for teams around the league.  Offensively the Little Flyers are as balanced as they come with 14 players having 10 or more points on the season and 7 players having scored 10 or more goals.  Second year Co-Captain Peter Hatton currently sits tied for 4th place in the league with 37 points (10G, 27A).  Defensively the unit has been solid all year, led by Co-Captain Chris Best, The Little Flyers are giving up a league low 1.22 Goals Per Game.  With so much success so far, the team still has a lot of work to do to reach the ultimate goal of an EHL Championship.