Aston, PA -- While December brings frigid temperatures to the Northeast, the Little Flyers were looking to stay scorching hot.  Having won 20 straight games the Little Flyers welcomed the always tough Connecticut Oilers to Aston,PA for a two game weekend home series.  Saturday was the team’s first game in 13 days; head coach Rocky Russo gave his players the opportunity to head home for the Thanksgiving holiday “Junior hockey is a grind for players, especially for those that are away from home for the first time. I think it's important to allow them the time to get home and visit with their families and friends and enjoy some down time. After such a successful few months it was a no brainer to allow them the opportunity to get away for a while and relax. They came back from break rested, focused and ready to play again” said Russo prior to Saturday’s game. 

                Getting the start in net Saturday was November's EHL TSR goalie of the month Joe Giacobbo.  The game opened with back and forth play with the Oilers getting the first two shots on goal of the game.  The Oilers were whistled for a hooking minor at the 6:06 mark of the period, sending the Little Flyers to the power play.  As the power play expired Joey Savel sent a cross ice pass to defenseman Ziki Mroz, Mroz kicked the puck from his skate to stick and hit a streaking Jamie Bucell with a backdoor pass for the one timer into an open net.  The goal was Bucell's team leading 12th of the season.  The first period ended with the Little Flyers up 1-0 and outshooting the Oilers 16-8.  

                Giacobbo had to be sharp out of the intermission, as the Oilers put pressure on in the first thirty seconds of the period with three scoring chances.  Just over a minute into the period the Oilers were called for too many men on the ice.  On the ensuing power play Alex Peterson found Trevor Coykendall in the slot, Coykendall's wrist shot went five hole and into the net for the 2-0 lead, Peter Hatton was also credited with an assist on the play.  The Little Flyers would extend the lead to 3-0 on a beautiful break out play with less than ten minutes to play that was quarterbacked by defenseman Cameron Bartkoski who had the best view to watch the play develop “Well, we didn't actually run the right breakout.  We should've have two guys on either side but I saw that Peterson was alone and had a lot of space so I handed it off to him and he made a nice pass to Hatton who left it for Ollie (Oliver Arnberg) to pick up.  I saw Peterson was wide open and I was hoping he would be able to finish off the play which he did.   I was really excited when he scored because it's one of those plays that really only works in practice.   After that I think we've found our new go-to breakout play” said Bartkoski following the game (Check out the goal here).  Through two periods of play the Oilers couldn't solve Giacobbo and the Little Flyers as the teams headed to the third period with the home team leading 3-0.  

                The Little Flyers had a chance to open the game up with two power play chances in the first six minutes of the period but were unable to capitalize.  The Oilers penalty killing units were stingy in the third, not allowing many prime scoring chances.  In the offensive zone the Oilers had several good opportunities to cut into the Little Flyers lead but Giacobbo came up with an answer each time.  Defense transitioned into offense midway through the period as defenseman Trevor Lewandoski broke up an Oilers pass in his defensive zone.  Second year forward Christian Karbler passed the puck ahead to line mate Peter Hatton in the neutral zone and joined the rush as he and Hatton moved in on a 2 on 1.  Hatton passed the puck over to Karbler who fired a wrister high glove side and in for his 9th of the season.  The Oilers would spoil Giacobbo's shutout bid late in the third as they scored a power play goal with under four minutes to play.  That would be all the Oilers got offensively as the Little Flyers won their 21st straight game by a final score of 4-1.  The win improved Giacobbo's record to 11-0 on the year.  

                On Sunday the Little Flyers looked to extend their winning streak to 22 games and turned to veteran goaltender Sam Kany in goal for the final matchup with the Oilers of the EHL regular season.  Both teams would get out to a quick start as there was a fast pace to the game with both clubs getting scoring chances early in the first.  Midway through the first, the Little Flyers got on the board with an Ian Kwant wrister through heavy traffic in front of the Oilers net.  The goal would be Kwant’s second of the season, Brett Abdelnour and Trevor Coykendall were credited with assists on the play.  Just under three minutes later the Little Flyers lead would grow to 2-0.   Alex Ochterbeck’s hard work in front of the net paid off as he stuck with a rebound opportunity and pounded the puck into back of the net for his 11th of the season.  The home team looked to extend their lead in the period as the Oilers committed two penalties a minute apart.  The Little Flyers were unable to capitalize on the opportunity as Consentino kept his Oilers in the game.  On the other end of the ice Kany was sharp, saving all ten of the Oilers scoring chances in the first period.  Heading into the first intermission the Little Flyers were outshooting the Oilers 24-10 while up on the scoreboard 2-0.

                In the second period neither team could get much going in the first four minutes of play as neither registered any shots on goal.  A power play chance for the Little Flyers early in the period didn’t yield any results as the game remained 2-0.  The Oilers headed to the power play with less than ten minutes left in the second period and they would take advantage of the opportunity.  The Oilers had sustained solid pressure early on the power play, challenging Kany, who made four saves while his team was down a man.  The Oilers Alex Rowella, was able to beat Kany on the power play to cut the Little Flyers lead to 2-1.  A 2-1 score showed on the board with the Little Flyers nearly doubling the Oilers in shots with a 39-20 advantage after two.  Just a minute into the third the Little Flyers were shorthanded again but the defense tightened up, getting into the passing lanes and blocking several shot attempts.  Looking to get an insurance goal the Little Flyers kept the pressure on the Oilers by firing all pucks on net but were unable to extend the lead for most of the period.  With three and a half minutes left in the game the Little Flyers got what they were looking for in the form of a great individual effort by forward Nate Rogers.  Rogers deflected an Oilers pass from the point in the Little Flyers zone and won a foot race to the puck at center ice.  Racing down the left side, with two Oilers chasing him Rogers took the puck from his backhand to his forehand to go around the Oilers goalie and put the puck in for his 8th of the season.  “Nate's goal was huge for us. We were dominating them for the majority of the 3rd period so I was confident we would find a way to get the 3rd goal.  He has had a knack for scoring big goals for us all year and yesterday was no exception” said Little Flyers head coach Rocky Russo.  The Oilers were unable to get another puck past Kany in the final minutes of the period and the Little Flyers added an empty net goal by Rick Walsh on great hustle play by Walsh to get to the puck to waive off icing, the goal was his first of the season that was assisted by Ryan Vogt and Cameron Bartkoski.  The 4-1 win was the team’s 22nd in a row, Kany improved to 11-0-1 on the season.  The eight Little Flyers goals scored this weekend were scored by eight different players. 

What’s next?

                The Little Flyers will be back in action with a rare weekday afternoon game as they make the 15 mile drive to play cross town rival Jr. Flyers at their home rink in West Chester, PA.  The Little Flyers next home game will also be its last on home ice in 2016 as they host the Philadelphia Revolution.  The Revolution and Little Flyers faced off in the Little Flyers first regular season game of the season on the Revs home ice which resulted as the only blemish thus far on the team’s record, a 4-3 overtime loss.