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EHL Premier: Little Flyers Take Three of Four Points Against Panthers

By Anthony Lorusso , 09/13/18, 1:15PM EDT

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Aston, PA – The Philadelphia Little Flyers Premier team kicked off their 2018-19 season with a home and home series against the Central Penn Panthers this past weekend.  Philadelphia was on home ice for the season opener with Graham Burke drawing the start in goal. 

                Returning forward Austin Mazzulo, wasted no time getting the Little Flyers on the board as it took just fifty three seconds into the first period to give his team a 1-0 lead.  Mazzulo was set up by line mates Johnny Scarduzio and Dylan Frasher on the goal.  Central Penn battled their way back into the game with a Brendan Yingling goal just before the mid-way point of the first period to tie the game at 1-1.  Five minutes later, Mazzulo would strike again to regain the one goal lead for the home team off of a feed from returning defenseman Brett Turner.  The Little Flyers out shot Central Penn 17-4 in the first and took a one goal lead into intermission. 

                The Panthers Alex Stein tied the game at 2-2 with an even strength goal 5:46 into the second period.  Philadelphia regained the lead thirty four seconds later with Luke Headman’s first career goal in a Little Flyers uniform.  Headman’s goal was assisted by Nick Bouchard and Nicholas Mongeon.  Burke kept Central Penn off the board for the remainder of the second period as the Little Flyers held a 3-2 lead going into the third period.  Second year forward Patrick Swain gave the Little Flyers a little breathing room with an unassisted goal 3:31 into the third period.  Burke and the defense shut down Central Penn in the third, only allowing 5 total shots on goal to win the game 4-2.

                On Sunday, the Little Flyers traveled to Central Penn for game two of the weekend series.  In this game we saw different goaltenders as Tyler Ennis was in net for the Little Flyers, opposed by Matthew Morrison for Central Penn.  This game was a back and forth penalty filled affair with the two teams combining for 130 total penalty minutes.  Central Penn scored 1:54 into the first period to jump out to an early 1-0 lead.  The Little Flyers answered back several minutes later with back to back goals by Patrick Swain and Austin Mazzulo, Mazzulo’s goal was assisted by Matt Kudless for his first career EHL Premier point.  With less than four minutes left in the first period, Central Penn tied the game with a Brendan Yingling goal.  After playing the first eight minutes in the second period tied at 2-2 Central Penn turned on the offense, scoring three straight goals in a seven minute span to take a commanding 5-2 lead.  The Little Flyers came battling back with two Brett Turner goals in a twenty second span,  Turner’s second goal of the game was assisted by Dylan Frasher and Patrick Swain.  Just before time expired in the second, Gavin Yingling gave Central Penn a two goal lead heading into the final twenty minutes of play.  Turner once again brought the Little Flyers to within one, scoring his third goal of the game with exactly ten minutes to play in the game.  A little over two minutes later Will Garrison tied the game at 6-6 to complete the Little Flyers comeback.  Neither team could break the tie in the final eight minutes of regulation; the game would head to sudden death overtime to determine a winner.  The teams remained tied after the overtime and Central Penn was able to win the game in a shootout. 

                The Little Flyers are off this weekend but will travel to Connecticut to take on the Chiefs on September 22nd and 23rd.