Aston, PA – The Philadelphia Little Flyers are proud to announce 1996 birth year forward, Nate Rogers has committed to the Milwaukee School of Engineering University in the fall of 2017 to continue his education and hockey career.  Rogers, a 5’9” 170lb native of Richardson, Texas is in his second year with the Little Flyers organization.  In the first period of his very first junior hockey game last season, Rogers, suffered a season ending knee injury.  Battling through the adversity of surgery, rehab and getting back into game shape Rogers has been a key contributor for the Little Flyers who sit atop the EHL’s standings in the final month of the regular season.  In 35 games played this season Rogers has scored 12 goals and added 9 assists for 21 points.  Six of Rogers goals are game winning goals which is tops on the Little Flyers in that category.  The MSOE Raiders, coached by Mark Ostapina currently play in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).  “Our staff is very proud of Bobby Nate for his perseverance, battling through the adversity of an injury of the magnitude that he had last year.  To go out for the year in period one of your first ever junior game is mentally pretty tough to handle and Nate showed his character and his commitment level to being an NCAA student athlete battling through that injury, getting through the rehab and coming back bigger and stronger.  We couldn’t be happier for him, his goal was to get to a top flight engineering school, and MSOE with coach Ostapina is a no brainer for him, it’s a great fit.  We have Little Flyer alum Adem Arifi in his freshman year at MSOE as well as Gage Christianson who I coached previously is his senior this year.  It’s a great situation for Nate and we are excited to see how he grows his game and wish him nothing but success at the college level” said Little Flyers General Manager and Head Coach Rocky Russo. 

                “I’m excited, I want to thank my family first for not only being there for me over the past year recovering from the injury but for supporting me my entire career.  I couldn’t have done this without Coach Russo, giving me a chance last year and giving me a chance again this year after the whole ACL debacle last season.  It took a lot of hard work to get back to this point but I couldn’t have done it alone and the junior hockey experience I gained here with the Little Flyers helped me grown on and off the ice.  I also want to thank Mr. Giacobbo and the staff for sticking with me.  It’s been a dream of mine to play NCAA hockey so I’m definitely looking forward to going to Milwaukee, getting on campus at MSOE and playing for coach Ostapina.  They have a good group of guys there now and I can’t wait to be a part of it and get my education at such a great school” said Rogers upon making his commitment. 

                Earlier in the season Rogers was named to the EHL’s STARS OF THE WEEK for his six point weekend against the Connecticut Nighthawks on November 5th & 6th.  Rogers’ six game winning goals currently ties him for the league lead with three other players.  Nate Rogers is the third Little Flyers player this season to commit to make a college decision, joining Jamie Bucell (Utica College) and Christian Karbler (Trine University)