skip navigation

18U National-Premier Wins AYHL Championship

By WB, 03/01/22, 2:45PM EST

Share

Down Jr. Flyers in Triple Overtime Thriller

West Chester, PA --  After completing their third consecutive Atlantic Youth Hockey League (AYHL) regular season without a loss, the Little Flyers 18U National-Premier team took their first step towards a trip to Nationals by winning the AYHL Championship.  In a semi-final game against the 4th ranked New Jersey JR. Titans, Andrew Hodolitz opened the scoring for the Orange and Black 1:20 into the first period off of a feed from Andrew Henry to take a 1-0 lead.  Nathan Rabadam and Sammy Phillips scored back to back goals separated by a minute and a half midway through the game.  Thor Hansen and Andrew Hodolitz picked up assists on the Rabadam goal.  The Phillips goal gave the Little Flyers a commanding 3-0 lead, Hunter Hayes and Andrew Henry were credited with assists on Phillips first of the playoffs.

Down the other end of the ice, Little Flyers goaltender Tyler Temoyan kept the Jr. Titans off the scoreboard after the first two periods of play.  Thor Hansen added a dagger in the third period with a Power Play Goal assisted by Andrew Hodolitz and Hunter Engelman.  Temoyan remained perfect, saving all 24 shots he faced, earing a 4-0 shutout win and advancing the Little Flyers to the AYHL Championship game.

The only thing separating the Little Flyers from the 18U AYHL Championship was their crosstown rivals in the Philadelphia JR. Flyers, and this game certainly lived up to the hype.  The first period was a back-and-forth affair with the JR. Flyers taking the advantage in shots on goal.  The JR. Flyers Gregory Diamond broke the scoreless tie at the 15:19 mark with an unassisted goal on a turnover in the Little Flyers zone.  The second period was all about Tyler Temoyan in net for the Little Flyers, the 2003 birthyear goaltender  and his penalty killing unit successfully killed off three second period JR. Flyers power plays to head into the third period down one.  The Little Flyers tilted the ice in the JR. Flyers end in the third period, desperately looking for the game tying goal.  It eventually came courtesy of Hunter Hayes with less than three minutes remaining in the game, Nathan Rabadam and Sammy Phillips assisted on the game tying goal.  At the end of regulation, the teams were deadlocked at 1-1. 

We headed into sudden death overtime which was five on five for 17 minute periods until a Champion was crowned.  With neither team willing to give an inch on the ice, it was a dog fight to determine a winner, the teams traded scoring chances, body checks, big saves and desperation defensive plays for two full overtime periods.  In the final minutes of the third overtime period, it was Chase Hannon’s time to end things.  With a faceoff in the JR. Flyers zone, Andrew Hodolitz and Thor Hansen won a puck battle along the wall and bumped the puck up to Hannon at the point.  With Hannon walking the blue line, he went a wrist shot through traffic and into the back of the JR. Flyers net to win the AYHL Playoff Championship for the Little Flyers.

Tyler Temoyan was named Goaltender of the Playoffs, making 57 saves in the Championship game.  Hunter Hayes and Chase Hannon were named Defenseman and Forward of the Playoffs respectively. 

What’s Next:  The Little Flyers will receive an automatic bid to the Atlantic District Finals as the #1 overall seed in the Atlantic District on the weekend of March 12th.  They await an opponent as the #2 through #5 seeds will play round robin playdowns this weekend at the Tier 1 qualifier event.