Aston, PA — The Philadelphia Little Flyers EHL Premier team looked to get back in the win column after dropping two games last weekend to South Conference opponents.

On Saturday, in the first game of a three game weekend home stand for the Little Flyers, they welcomed the New England Wolves.  Kolin Grogesky was in net for the Little Flyers against the Wolves.  Philadelphia struck first with an even strength goal from their newest player, Nico Trudeau.  Trudeau’s goal came with just four minutes remaining in the first period, Patrick Swain and Sam Clapinson picked up assists on the play.  Grogesky made 10 saves in the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Tempers flared in the second period with the two teams combining for 56 penalty minutes.  The Little Flyers capitalized on one of the Wolves penalties, courtesy of a Nate Dunning power play goal.  The goal was Dunning’s 7th of the season, set up by Dylan Frasher and Nico Trudeau.  Two minutes later, the Wolves answered back with a power play goal of their own to cut the Little Flyers lead back to one.  With less than two minutes left to play, the Little Flyers power play struck again.  This time it was Frasher providing the goal assisted by defenseman Max McAllister and Captain Ryan Sharkey.  

With a two goal lead, the Little Flyers defense shut down the Wolves offense, only allowing six shots on goal in the final period.  Philadelphia would take this one by a final score of 3-1.

The Little Flyers were back at it on Sunday, playing another North Conference opponent, this time it was the EHL Premier’s league leading 25-5 Vermont Lumberjacks.  Ryan Creenan drew the start for the Little Flyers in goal.  Creenan and Vermont’s Eric Roy kept the game scoreless throughout most of the first period.  With less than a minute to play in the first period, Little Flyers Forward Sam Clapinson sent a shot towards the net that was deflected up in the air.  Dylan Frasher was on the door step of the Lumberjacks net and was able to find the puck and tap it home to give the Little Flyers a 1-0 lead, Nico Trudeau picked up an assist on the goal.  

The Little Flyers would double their lead just past the midway point of the second period.  While on the power play, Nate Dunning carried the puck from the Little Flyers end into the Lumberjacks zone firing a shot high over the net.  Dunning followed up his shot and got to the puck first, sending it towards the net at an awkward angle but the puck found room past Roy for Dunning’s 8th goal of the year.  On the other end, Creenan held the Lumberjacks offense in check, stopping 19 shots through two period.

Pressing to get on the scoreboard and cut into the Little Flyers lead in the third period, Vermont limited Philadelphia to just 3 shots on goal in the period.  Creenan came up big, making key saves throughout the third to maintain the two goal lead.  With time winding down and Roy on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, Patrick Swain put the game away, scoring an empty net goal with 1:19 left in the game.  Defenseman Eric Maard and Forward Savay Thompson collected assists on Swain’s goal.  Creenan, picked up the shutout, stopping all 27 Lumberjacks shots he faced.

Creenan was back in net on Monday as the Little Flyers hosted the Philadelphia Revolution.  The Little Flyers were awarded a penalty shot five minutes into the game but the attempt was stopped by the Revolution’s goaltender Anthony Shrum.   Creenan was sharp early on in the game to keep the game scoreless.  With the teams playing 4-on-4 and less than a minute left to play in the first, the Revolution offense struck with an Ian Hibsham goal.  The visiting Revolution added to their lead in the second with an even strength six minutes into the period.  After two periods of play the Little Flyers trailed 2-0 while being outshot 25-16.

The Revolution took a 3-0 lead in the third period but the Little Flyers were starting to get more scoring chances as the period went on.  While shorthanded and less than four minutes left to play, the Little Flyers finally were able to get on the scoreboard.  The teams leading scorer, Kyle Scott, who was recently called up to the EHL team was back playing with his Premier teammates due to an off day for the Little Flyers top team.  With an aggressive penalty kill, Captain Ryan Sharkey sprung Scott on a breakaway to cut the Revolution’s lead to 3-1.  Scott returned the favor to Sharkey just forty seconds later while still shorthanded, Sharkey moved in on Shrum and buried the puck into the back of the net to get within one.  With momentum shifting in the Little Flyers favor, the Revolution used their time out to regroup.  With less than two minutes remaining Hibsham scores his second goal of the game to put the Revolution back up by two.  The Little Flyers comeback bid fell short as the Revolution added an empty net goal to seal the 5-2 win.