Photo Credit:  Lindsey Fotos 

Aston, PA --  Two wins over the Connecticut RoughRiders stood in the way between the Little Flyers and a trip to Providence College for the Eastern Hockey League’s Frozen Finals.  The Little Flyers hosted the RoughRiders for the best of three series this past weekend.

                In game one on Friday night, Alex Henson got the start in net for the Little Flyers, opposed by Jeremy Thelven for the RoughRiders.  Earlier in the week Joey Savel was named the EHL’s Forward of the Year and he showed exactly why all weekend long.  Midway through the first period, Savel broke the scoreless tie when he chopped a bouncing shot from Nick Magill-Diaz past Thelven, Ryan Galvin was also credited with an assist.  Thirty Seven seconds later the RoughRiders won a faceoff deep in their own zone and tried to clear the puck but a good pinch from the point by Nick Daluisio caused a turnover to Nate Mickey.  Mickey passed the puck down low to Eric Higgins who fed the puck to the slot for Grant Rinke who one timed the puck past Thelven for a 2-0 lead.  Thirty Seven seconds after the Rinke goal, Savel was at it again, this time on the power play.  Some quick passing by Savel, Alex Ochterbeck and Mitchell Hall on a 3-on-1 led to Savel’s second goal of the game.  With less than three minutes left to play in the opening period, Ochterbeck, the league’s leading goal scorer got in on the action, sending a wrist shot through traffic and past Thelven to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the first intermission.  Henson, kept the RoughRiders off the board in the first, making 9 saves.

                A RoughRiders boarding penalty 1:38 into the second period gave the Little Flyers another prime opportunity to add to their lead.  With the puck behind the RoughRiders net, Magill-Diaz found Ochterbeck along the wall, who moved the puck up to Savel at the point.  Savel, faked a slap shot to get the RoughRiders defenseman to go down on the ice then dragged the puck around him and sent a wrist shot into the back of the net thanks to a screen in front of Thelven by Hall.  Less than four minutes later, the Little Flyers were back on the offensive attack.  Cade Street, played the puck through the neutral zone to Hall at the RoughRiders blue line, Hall gained the zone and sent a wrist shot towards the net that bounced off of Thelven’s pad and right to the stick of Ryan Vogt who deposited the puck into the open net for his fourth goal of the playoffs.  The RoughRiders were finally able to get on the board with just over two minutes to play with an even strength goal from Mitchell Parsons to make the score 6-1.

                The RoughRiders had plenty of chances in the third to make the game closer as they had four power plays in the period, including 1:30 of 5-on-3 power play time.  A blast from the point courtesy of Nicholas Kukuris cut the Little Flyers lead to 6-2 7:49 into the period.  Five minutes later Savel put the game out of reach, scoring his 4th goal of the game courtesy of Ziki Mroz and Ryan Galvin.  One minute later, Ricky Walsh, added the final tally of the day wrapping the puck around the net and across the goal line, Hall and Magill-Diaz assisted on the play.  The Little Flyers took game one by a final score of 8-2, Savel led the way offensively with four goals and one assist.  Henson made 26 saves capturing his second win of the post season. 

                On Saturday afternoon, the Little Flyers looked to sweep the series for a spot in the Frozen Finals.  Henson was once again in net for Philadelphia with Ryan Bonnvie getting the start for the Roughriders in a must win game.  Special teams were the name of the game in this one as the Little Flyers found themselves on the power play 1:25 into the game.  It took less than four seconds for the Little Flyers to cash in as Eric Higgins won the faceoff to Grant Rinke who passed the puck over to Ziki Mroz for a slap shot from the point that beat Bonnvie.  Connor Boyce answered back for the RoughRiders scoring a power play goal of his own to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the first period.  Over the last ten minutes of play in the first, Connecticut committed five minor penalties and the Little Flyers pounced on the opportunities.  On a 5-on-3, Defensemen Brendan Coughlin and Nick Magill-Diaz passed the puck back and forth until Coughlin unleashed a wrist shot through traffic to regain the lead.  Forty Nine seconds later it was Magill-Diaz’s turn to light the lamp as he took the same shot from almost the same spot on the ice as Coughlin to score his first goal of the post season.  Joey Savel added assists to both Coughlin & Magill-Diaz’s goals.  The Little Flyers took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission while outshooting the RoughRiders 7-6.

                Philadelphia added to their lead less than three minutes into the second period on a wild play.  On a breakaway, Alex Ochterbeck was stopped by Bonnvie, Ryan Galvin followed the puck and rang his shot off the post, the puck trickled out to Savel who buried the puck into a wide open net to take a 4-1 lead.  Several minutes later, Grant Rinke found himself on a breakaway of his own as he beat Bonnvie glove side; Ziki Mroz registered the only assist on Rinke’s second goal of the series.  Thomas Schwartz brought the RoughRiders a little closer with a power play goal midway through the second period but the Little Flyers responded almost immediately with Savel’s second goal of the game twenty three seconds later.  The scoring wasn’t done for the Little Flyers as Co-Captain Trevor Lewandoski increased the lead to five when took a face off win by Avery Smith and sent a wrist shot through traffic into the back of the net.  Down the other end of the ice, Henson did his job, making 14 saves in the period to make any RoughRiders comeback attempt difficult. 

                Connecticut started the second period with a 5-on-3 power play in hopes of scoring twice to get back in the game with a chance to force a game three.  The Little Flyers penalty killers would have none of that as they turned defense into offense when Magill-Diaz made a diving play to clear the puck towards center ice.  The offensive minded Savel jumped on the loose puck and put a backhander across the goal line to all but seal the Little Flyers ticket to Providence.  The RoughRiders took their chances in the third period, out shooting the Little Flyers 13-11 in the period.  Mitchell Parsons' even strength goal at the 12:10 mark of the third period cut the deficit to five with less than eight minutes left to play.  Ziki Mroz added his second power play goal of the game late in the period as the Little Flyers won by a final score of 9-3. 

Savel Named TSR Hockey Top Performer

The Little Flyers offense scored 17 goals in their two game series against the RoughRiders, led by the EHL’s leading Scorer Joey Savel.  Savel, was named the TSR Hockey Top Performer of the series as he scored seven goals and added three assists.  The Utica College commit leads the EHL in scoring for the post season with 11 points in three games.

EHL Frozen Finals

The EHL will host the inaugural Frozen Finals on the campus of Providence College March 22nd through March 25th.  The Little Flyers will begin the round robin schedule with a 7:00 PM game on Thursday March 22nd against the Boston Jr. Rangers.  Full Schedule can be found below.  Make sure to follow the Little Flyers on all social media platforms for updates, pictures, stories and a behind the scenes look at the Frozen Finals.