News

By Doug Mark

The Philadelphia Flyers Junior Hockey team picked up four much needed points this weekend, as they were able to sweep their home weekend series with the Okanagan Eagles, taking Saturday night’s game by a final of 3-2, and Sunday by a final of 4-3.  With the wins, the Flyers are now just four points out of 8th place in the Premier Division with nine games left to play in the season.  A jump up into 8th place would allow the team to host a home play-in game in the post-season.

 

The Flyers were led this weekend by the spectacular offensive output of a line consisting of Vadim Vasjonkin, Reid Bibb and Sam Nardicchio.  In total, Vasjonkin earned himself a five point weekend.  Bibb registered three assists on the weekend, and Nardicchio would register three goals and an assist.  The Flyers were backstopped in goal by Matt Beck in both contests.  Beck would turn away 28 shots in game one, and 23 shots in game two, earning the win in both games, and third star of the game honors for his performance on Saturday. 

 

Saturday nights game took nearly a period and a half to see a team get on the board.  Okanagan would get on the board first on an unassisted goal by Alex Boudin-Tougas at the 8:15 mark of the 2nd period.  The Flyers would counter about three minutes later on a goal by Vasjonkin, with assists to Bibb and Tristan Ramage.  Tyler Jahn would give the Flyers the lead in the third period, just two minutes in, on a nice shot from the slot after receiving a pass from Mario Tropea, putting them up 2-1.

 

Nardicchio would give the Flyers a 3-1 cushion at the 8:15 mark of the third, receiving a setup from Bibb and Vaskjonkin.  Okanagan would add a goal by Isaac Nordstrom with just 15 seconds left in the game, but the Flyers would be able to hold on to take the win in game one of the weekend.

 

Sunday afternoon’s game saw more scoring and was a seesaw affair between the two clubs, in a game that can only be described as if the Dineen Cup was on the line in the game.  Okanagan would jump out to an early 1-0 lead just 1:44 into the game on a goal by Romain Wild on a two on one rush, receiving a pass from Zach smith and depositing it into the goal.  The Eagles would take a 2-0 lead at 10:04 of the period on another odd man rush, on a goal by Max Mona.  The Flyers would benefit from a powerplay goal by Vasjonkin with 3:04 left in the period with assist going to Bibb and Ramage, the exact same combination in the Flyers first goal on Saturday, to cut the lead in half going into the locker room.

 

It wouldn’t take long for the Flyers to tie the game, when Connor Tierney would tip the puck past Eagles goaltender Louis-Felix St Jean, on a nice setup and pass from Jeff Eppright.  Tom Terranova would register his first point as a Flyer, getting the secondary assist by flinging the puck up into the air for Eppright to pick it up and skate it into the corner.  He threw the puck out in front of the goal and Tierney was right there to tip it passed the goaltender, the goal coming just 3:14 into the second period. 

 

Okanagan would regain the lead with 12:18 left to go in the period on a goal by Isaac Nordstrom, his second of the weekend.  But the Flyers would counter less than two minutes later, on a brilliant powerplay goal by Ramage, which started with him carrying the puck from his own blue line all the way down into the Eagles corner.  Ramage left the puck for Nardicchio and took position in front of the goal, where he was able to one-time a pass from Nardicchio into the goal to tie the game at three. 

 

Jahn would give the Flyers the 4-3 lead with 3:23 left to go in the second period on another shot from the point, with assists going to Vasjonkin and Bibb.  Unfortunately, Okanagan would manage to tie the game with just 16 seconds left in the period on a goal by Dmitri Sten. 

 

The third period would go back and forth offensively between both teams, but neither team was able to take advantage of their chances, until a streak of luck, and a great play, would set up the Flyers.  Down a man on the penalty kill, Mario Tropea would strip an Okanagan defenseman of the puck, and managed to muscle his way on goal.  He found himself behind the net, with St Jean out of position, and slid the puck into the middle of the crease, where Richie Greenberg was there to bury the puck into an empty net for a shorthanded goal with 10:16 left to go in the game, giving the Flyers the 5-4 lead, their first of the game.

 

That is all they would need as the Flyers were able to play sound defense, and Beck put up a solid showing in goal turning away shot after shot.  Nardicchio would add his third goal of the weekend on an empty net goal with 29 seconds remaining to ice the game.  In all, the Flyers would fire 57 total shots on goal.  That would amount to a 51 save performance by St Jean in net for Okanagan, an impressive performance that deserves recognition.  The Flyers hope to build on these two big weekends going into next weekend’s two game set up in North Jersey against their rival Jersey Hitmen.  Every game from here on out is a must win, and the team sure knows it.

 

The Flyers will return home to the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees for one final home game of the season on Wednesday, February 8th.  Game time is set for 1:50pm.