January 25, 2014

In Aston, PA, Saturday afternoon the Philadelphia Little Flyers and the New Jersey Rockets faced off at Ice Works Skating Arena for sole possession of first place in the EHL Southern division.  The Little Flyers had three games in hand coming in to this one, but a loss here could put their momentum on a downswing.    

The scoring opened up quickly as less than two minutes after opening faceoff; Troy Conzo gave the New Jersey Rockets the initial lead.  From there the Rockets fell victim to penalty trouble as 3 powerplays resulted in two goals by the Flyers; one by Troy Grahl and the other by Drew Gannon.  The Little Flyers would go into the locker room with a 2-1 lead.

The offensive matchup continued in the second period as Hector Majul and Zach Felser each scored early to give the Little Flyers a 4-1 lead.                  Cutting the lead in half was Frank Coscia, who snuck a slap shot inside the far post from the top of the circle to beat Alec Derks and pull within two.  The Little Flyers’ newest player Cameron Berry brought the lead back to three by deflecting a Matt Day slap shot past Josh Creelman.  This Little Flyers would approach the 3^rd period with a 5-2 lead. 

The Little Flyers continued their dominance in the third; Austin Kelly, Hector Majul, Zach Felser, and Oleg Potemkin each had a goal to bring the Flyers a 9-2 victory over the rival Rockets.  Coach Russo commented after the game, “This was a good team win.  The Rockets are a talented team that has a very good transition offense and we shut them down pretty well today.  [Alec] Derks and our defense played well in our zone and we had offensive contributions from a lot of different guys, namely, Cam Berry who joined us just recently and got his first goal as a Flyer tonight. It was an all-around good team effort.”

The Little Flyers are now in sole possession of first place in the EHL South with a 19-9-2-3 record.

Brian Forrest