Aston, PA -- Little Flyers Weekend Wrap Up 10/26 & 10/27

18U – The 18U Little Flyers went an impressive 4-0 at the Winter Beantown Classic.  In the opening game against the Junior Bruins, Byron Hartley led the Little Flyers to a 7-2 win, scoring four goals in the game.  After trailing 1-0 in the first period, Koby Howat and Conor Booth set up Patrick O’Connell for the game tying goal.  Twenty four seconds later, Hartley gave the Little Flyers a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.  Howat’s first goal was assisted by O’Connell and Howat.  A minute later, Braedon Dougherty’s power play goal gave the Little Flyers a 3-1 lead.  Hartley struck again in the second period with an unassisted goal.  The Junior Bruins scored their second goal of the game in the period but trailed 4-2 heading into the third.  Hartley added two insurance goals late in the third period, the first was unassisted, Jack Costible set up Hartley for his 4th goal of the game at the 2:03 mark.  Costible added an insurance goal at the end of the game that was assisted by Harrison Dumas to give the Little Flyers a 7-2 victory.  Harris Brotman picked up the win in net for the Little Flyers. 

Im Game two the Little Flyers defeated Twin City Lightning by a final score of 3-1.  Liam Gross was solid in net all game long, only allowing one goal to the Lightning.    

In their second game of the day the Little Flyers faced off against Mount Academy.  Mount jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period.  TJ Avellino evened the scoreboard with a power play midway through the first period.  Avellino’s goal was set up by Jack Costible and Chris Blango.  With less than thirty seconds left in the first period, Byron Hartley continued his scoring ways to give the Little Flyers a 2-1 lead.  Patrick O’Connell extended the lead to 3-1 with an even strength goal courtesy of Byron Hartley and Koby Howat.  Less than thirty seconds after the O’Connell goal, Mount Academy got back into the game with an even strength goal of their own.  Trent Gehringer’s unassisted even strength goal regained the Little Flyers two goal cushion in the final minutes of the second period.  In the third period, David O’Connell netted his second goal of the game at the 14:36 mark,  O’Connell’s second goal of the game came with helpers from Conor Booth and Byron Hartley.  Koby Howat capped the scoring for the Little Flyers in the game, O’Connell registered his fourth point of the game with the only assist on Howat’s goal.  Harris Brotman picked up his second win of the tournament in the game.

In their fourth and final game of the tournament, the Little Flyers took on Compuware 18U.  Jack Costible put the Little Flyers up early in the first period on a goal assisted by Koby Howat and Patrick O’Connell.  Byron Hartley doubled the Little Flyers lead several minutes later with an unassisted even strength goal.  In the second period, Harrison Dumas extended the Little Flyers lead to 3-0 taking a feed from Patrick O’Connell.   The Compuware offense came alive in the third period, scoring two quick goals early in the period to cut the Little Flyers lead to one.  Midway through the period, Compuware found the game tying goal to knot the game at 3-3.  Patick O’Connell came through in the clutch, scoring the eventual game winner at the 6:13 mark of the third period, Koby Howat picked up the assist on O’Connell’s game winner.  Liam Gross collected his second win of the weekend in goal to push the Little Flyers to 4-0 in the Beantown Classic.

16U National -  The 16U National team also played in the Beantown Classic this past weekend, collecting a 1-2 record in three close games.  The Little Flyers leaned heavily on their defense and goaltending throughout the weekend as the team combined to only allow five goals in three games.  In game one of the tournament, the Little Flyers suffered a close 2-0 loss to the Utica Jr. Comets.  The offense came alive in game two, collecting a 4-1 victory against a talented Boston Bandits team.  In the final game of the tournament, the Little Flyers fell by a final score of 2-1 in a back and forth game against Mount Academy. 

2005 Bantam Major – Joseph Samango led the Little Flyers to an 8-3 victory over the Mercer Chiefs on Saturday.  Kevin Hudak opened the scoring for the Little Flyers with a short handed goal 2:03 into the game, Brody Bess picked up the only assist on Hudak’s goal.  The Chiefs answered back to tie the game at 1-1 fourteen seconds later.  Luke  Simsir regained the lead for the Little Flyers  two minutes later as he took a pass from Joseph Samango to score the go ahead goal.  Matt Kratchwell set up Evan Rauch for the Little Flyers third goal of the first period at the 8:33 mark to give his team a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.   Less than a minute into the second period, Rauch struck again, notching his second goal of the game with assists going to Eric McHale and Joseph Samango.  Later in the period, Rauch and McHale worked to set Samango up for his first goal of the game to take a commanding 5-1 lead.  The Chiefs cut the lead back to three several minutes later on the power play.  Christopher Albert opened the scoring in the third period with a Little Flyers power play goal, Nick Fiore collected the only assist on the goal.  After Mercer scored a power play goal of their own, to cut the Little Flyers lead to three once again.  Samango closed the game out in a big way for the Little Flyers, scoring two goals in a thirty second period to ice the game.  Brody Bess and Evan Rauch picked up primary assists on Samango’s goals.  Aries Carangi made 22 saves in the win for the Little Flyers in goal. 

2006 Bantam Minor – Devin Schaeffer scored the Little Flyers lone goal against Virtua Hockey National team on Saturday in the teams first league play in almost a month.  Callahan Schultz made 29 saves for the Little Flyers in net but the Virtua offense was too powerful as they took the game by a final score of 11-1.  Against the Mercer Chiefs on Sunday,  Callahan Schultz made 29 saves on 39 shots faced in the game.  Alex Fusaro netted a power play goal in the first period that was assisted by Nathan DeLorme but the Little Flyers offense couldn’t muster more fire power as they eventually fell to the Chiefs.

2007 PeeWee Major – In a three game weekend, the Little Flyers played two games against the New York Saints on Saturday followed by a Sunday matchup against the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers.  In game one against the saints, Xavier Thomas gave the Little Flyers a 1-0 lead early in the first period, Blake Ditalia assisted on the go ahead goal.  The Saints tied the game as time winded down in the period to head to the second tied at 1-1.  Ten seconds into the second, Thaddeus Raynish regained the lead for the Little Flyers with an unassisted even strength goal.  Midway through the period, the Saints once again tied the game and the two teams were once again deadlocked going into the third.  At the 7:45 mark, the Saints gained their first lead of the game to take a 3-2 lead.  New York added a shorthanded goal several minutes later to give themselves some breathing room.  With the Little Flyers pulling the goalie down the stretch in favor of an extra attacker, the Saints sealed the game with an empty net goal.  Jacob Aranda kept the Little Flyers in the game all day, making 29 saves in the 5-2 loss.  Playing for the second time in the day, the Saints and Little Flyers battled for two scoreless periods as neither team could find the back of the net until the third period.  With less than five minutes left to play, the Saints broke the scoreless tie to take a 1-0 lead.  New York added an insurance goal two minutes later to go up by two which is how the game ended, a 2-0 Little Flyers loss.  Davis Fairbanks was solid in goal for the Little Flyers, making 23 saves in the game.

On Sunday, Alec James put the Little Flyers up 1-0 with a power play goal against the Jr. Flyers in the first period.  James’ power play goal was assisted by Blake Ditalia at the 10:15 mark of the period.  Less than a minute later, the Jr. Flyers tied the game at 1-1.  Still tied at 1-1 in the second period, the Jr. Flyers gained their first lead of the game with a power play goal.  Thaddeus Raynish knotted the game at 2-2, taking a pass from Bradyn Holmes and finding the back of the net to head into the third period tied.  Just over a minute into the period, the Jr. Flyers regained the lead on an even strength goal.  The Jr. Flyers scored again five minutes later to take a two goal lead.  The Little Flyers never gave up, creating scoring chances to get back into the game but time ran out as the Jr. Flyers iced the game with an empty net goal in the final minute of play to take the game by a final score of 5-2.

2008 PeeWee Minor -  In a  three game weekend, the Little Flyers 2008 team first faced off against the North Jersey Avalanche National team.  The Avalanche held the Little Flyers off of the scoreboard for most of the game while they gained a 5-0 lead heading into the third period.  Anton Stackow’s power play goal at the 14:14 mark of the third period was the only goal scored by the Little Flyers, Jack Torr picked up the only assist on Stackow’s goal.  Anthony Haag made 23 saves in net for the Little Flyers in a 6-1 loss.

In Saturday’s second game of the day, the Little Flyers the Mercer Chiefs American team.  This game would be a defensive battle as both teams defense and goaltender came to play in a low scoring affair.  Anton Stackow scored a shorthanded goal mid-way through the second period for the game’s first goal, Aiden Delfin assisted on the Little Flyers goal.  With time winding down in the third period, the Chiefs found the equalizer at the 14:23 mark to tie the game at 1-1.  This is how the game would end as neither team could break the scoreless tie in what little time remained.  Page Faith made 16 saves for the Little Flyers in the game.

On Sunday, the Little Flyers battled the New Jersey Colonials National team to a 6-6 tie.  Michael Gravinese got the scoring started in the game, with a Little Flyers power play goal that as assisted by Aiden Delfin.  New Jersey answered back with an even strength goal two minutes later.  Anton Stackow took the puck in for an unassisted goal later in the first to regain the lead for the Little Flyers.  Less than a minute later, the Colonials once again tied the game, this time with a power play goal.  The two teams played the first five minutes of the second period tied at 2-2 until the Colonials took their first lead of the day.  Nash Grant and Adam Charrafi connected to tie the game back up as Grant found the back of the net for the Little Flyers.  In the back and forth contest, the Colonials once again regained the lead at the 11:12 mark of the second.  Less than a minute later, Michael Gravinese scored his second of the game to once again deadlock the game,  Gravinese’s second goal of the game came courtesy of assists from Delfin and Connor Nattress.  Anton Stackow put the Little Flyers ahead early in the third period with a power play goal thanks to the set up from Paxton Hoishik.  Connorr Nattress gave the Little Flyers their largest lead of the game two minutes later with Aiden Delfin picking up his third assist of the game.  As they did all day long, the Colonials answered back with two goals in the final six minutes of play to send the two teams home tied 6-6.  In split goaltending duties for the Little Flyers, Anthony Haag made 9 saves while Page Faith recorded 7 saves in the game. 

2010 Squirt Minor -  The Little Flyers 2010 team fell to the New Jersey Avalanche 6-1 in their lone AYHL league game of the weekend.  Michael Siddons scored a third period power play goal for the Little Flyers to avoid the shutout.  Nathan Shahi made 19 saves in the game.