Photo Credit: Rob Carr, Action Shots Photography

Aston,PA — The Philadelphia Little Flyers EHL team hit the road for its final games of the season against the Connecticut Oilers.  On Saturday, the EHL’s November Goalie of the Month, Alex Henson was in net for the Little Flyers.  Across the ice was a familiar face to the visitors in the form of Oilers goaltender Will McEwen, who played in Philadelphia earlier in the season.  

            The Little Flyers offense struck quickly in the game as Ziki Mroz hammered a slap shot past McEwen just 1:37 into the first period, Nick Magill-Diaz and Joey Savel assisted on the goal.  The Oilers had a chance to tie the game several minutes later on the power play but were unsuccessful with the man advantage.  Twenty eight seconds after the power play expired, the Oilers were able to get the puck past Henson to tie the game.  The two teams combined for twenty eight shots on goal in the first period but neither could put another goal on the scoreboard. 

            Midway through the second period the Little Flyers regained the lead.  Forwards Nate Mickey and Alex Ochterbeck battled behind the Oilers net for the puck with Ochterbeck emerging out of the pile with possession.  He found Co-captain Joey Savel in the slot where Savel fired a wrist shot into the back of the net.  The Little Flyers played almost half of the second period up a man as they had four power play chances but the league’s top power play unit couldn’t capitalize.  With less than four minutes remaining in the period, the Oilers once again tied the game.  Two minutes after tying it up, the Oilers took their first lead of the game as they held a 3-2 advantage with less than 1:30 to play in the second.  Thirty one seconds after the Oilers took the lead, the Little Flyers got the goal back.  Brendan Coughlin sent a shot towards net where Ryan Vogt was able to tap the puck to Mitchell Hall who put the puck across the goal line.  The game would head into the hits period deadlocked at 3 apiece.

            The two teams traded scoring chances early in the third, with neither able to take the lead.  Nearing the seven minute mark of play, Avery Smith chipped the puck out of the Little Flyers zone to spring Grante Rinke and Ryan Galvin on a 2-on-1 chance.  Once in the Oilers zone, Rinke dished the puck across to Galvin who scored his 10th goal of the season.  Six minutes later with the teams playing four aside, Cale Coor passed the puck up to Alex Ochterbeck who went into the Oilers zone 1-on-1 against a defenseman.  Ochterbeck sent a wrist shot past McEwen from the left circle to give the Little Flyers a 5-3 lead, Nick Magill-Diaz picked up his second assist of the game on the goal.  Down by two, the Oilers pulled the goalie in favor of the extra attacker with three minutes left to play.  The Oilers won a face-off in the Little Flyers zone but couldn’t handle the puck, Matt Sheaffer gained possession and sent the puck through the neutral zone to Ryan Vogt who put the puck into the open net to seal the 6-3 win.  Alex Henson recorded 33 saves, improving to 6-1 with the Little Flyers on the season.

            On Sunday Brendahn Brawley, started between the pipes for the Little Flyers, Olof Djurberg was tasked with trying to slow down the Little Flyers offense in net for the Oilers.  Just over two minutes into the game, the Little Flyers found themselves shorthanded with a face off deep in their zone.  Nick Magill-Diaz got control of the puck and sent it to Joey Savel along the boards; Savel fed the puck through the neutral zone to a wide open Alex Ochterbeck.  Ochterbeck, played the puck out of his skates and shot the puck past Djurberg, the goal was Ochterbeck’s league leading 31st of the season as well as his 100th career point as a Little Flyer.  Just like Saturday’s game, the Oilers came back in the first period to tie the game at 1-1 with a goal from Val Sverdlov.  The period saw plenty of special teams opportunities as the two teams combined for 19 penalty minutes in the first 20 minutes of play.  The game would remain tied after the first, with the Oilers outshooting the Little Flyers 13-11.

            The second period began with the Little Flyers on the power play and the league’s top ranked unit would capitalize.  On the breakout from their own zone, Magill-Diaz played the puck up the Ochterbeck who found a wide open Mitchell Hall in the slot, Hall’s shot found its way through the five hole to give the Little Flyers a 2-1 lead.  Hall’s goal would stand as the lone scoring of the second period.  Brawley stopped all nine shots he faced from the Oilers.

            Just over a minute into the final period, Savel sent a rink wide pass to Ochterbeck who went around the Oilers net and backhanded the puck to the slot for Nate Mickey who was all alone, Mickey put the puck into the Oilers net for a two goal lead.  Off the ensuing face off at center ice, Ryan Vogt got the puck over to Hall who found Ricky Walsh one on one with Djurberg.  Walsh made a shifty forehand backhand move for the goal.  Less than three minutes later the Little Flyers offense struck again when Ochterbeck made a spinning backhanded pass to Ryan Galvin who deflected the puck into the net, the goal was Galvin’s 11th of the season.  With a commanding three goal lead, Brawley shut down the Oilers offense stopping all 12 shots he faced in the third period.  With under a minute left to play, Avery Smith put final exclamation point on the Little Flyers victory, deflecting a Grant Rinke shot into the back of the net, Nick Daluisio was credited with an assist on the play.  The 33 save win puts Brawley in a tie for the league lead with 14.

Magill-Diaz, Ochterbeck Earn Weekly Honors

            On Monday, Little Flyers defenseman Nick Magill-Diaz was named the Eastern Hockey League’s TSR Hockey Defenseman of the Week.  The 5’9” Clawson, Michigan native handed out five assists in the Little Flyers weekend sweep of the Connecticut Oilers.  The 1997 birthyear defenseman currently leads all EHL defenseman in points with 31 (6 Goals, 25 Assists).  Magill-Diaz has been key to the Little Flyers top ranked Power Play as he leads all players in the EHL with 16 power play assists.  

            Also on Monday, Little Flyers Forward Alex Ochterbeck was named the Top Performer Of Week 15 by Tier3JuniorHockey.Com.  The 5’11” forward from Dallas, Texas tallied six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in the weekend sweep of the Oilers.  Ochterbeck’s week started by scoring the overtime game winner on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Revolution who hold the league’s best record.  In Sunday’s 6-1 victory, Ochterbeck recorded his 100th career point as a Little Flyer on a shorthanded goal.  In 5 games thus far in the month of December, Ochterbeck has added 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) bringing his league leading total to 60.   With 60 points in 28 games, the Tier3 rankings place him ahead of over 4,000 skaters who have competed at the Tier 3 level this season.  

            Magill-Diaz, Ochterbeck and the rest of the Little Flyers look to finish out the 2017 calendar year strong as they have three more games before the end of the year.  Up first is a rematch of last year’s EHL Finals against the Jr.Flyers with a 12:45pm game on Wednesday on home ice at Premier Orthopaedics IceWorks.  Then the team will head to Walpole, Massachusetts for the EHL’s December showcase.  All games can be seen live on Hockey TV.