The Philadelphia Flyers Junior Hockey team were able to hold on for a big win Sunday afternoon on home ice at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, taking down the Connecticut Junior Rangers by a 2-1 final.

After a tough loss Saturday night to Connecticut, the Flyers came out Sunday in full force looking for revenge for the previous night, tilting the ice in their favor for the first five or six minutes of the game.  And overall, the team played a full game bouncing back after last night’s loss.

“I think we played about 56 out of 60 minutes yesterday we were great.  For four minutes, we weren’t so great.  I was pretty happy we bounced back today with the same demeanor and same intensity and didn’t stop until the buzzer” said head coach, Jared Beach, after the win.

Both teams came out and started the game physically.  There were exchanges of words and sometimes hands after a number of whistles throughout the game.  Play would be even for nearly 40 minutes, until the final minute of the second period when Frank Horowitz would score on a goal that snuck through the pads of Adam Mercer and into the goal.  And the Rangers would take the lead into the locker room.

But it would be short lived as less than two minutes into the third period, Brendan Ferguson scored an unassisted goal that also just barely found its way under the pads of Jimmy Poreda and across the goal line to tie the game.  The Rangers would try to say the net was dislodged before the puck was in the goal, but the goal would stand to tie the game at 1-1.

The Flyers would finally gain the lead with just 4:59 left to play, when Tyler Jahn fed a pass across the top of the zone to Rich Brusco.  Brusco threw the puck on goal, and Mateo Capriotti was able to get a piece of the puck to put it past a screened Poreda to give the Flyers the 2-1 lead.  It would be Capriotti’s second goal of the weekend, as he notched the Flyers first goal of the game on Saturday night.

After a barrage of opportunities for the Rangers late in the game, and a few crucial blocked shots from Flyers defensemen and key saves from Mercer, the Flyers would hold on to win the game.  Mercer, in his first game in goal on home ice for the Flyers, would earn the win with his impressive performance, stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced. 

The win gives the Flyers a 5-12-2 record heading into next weekend’s showcase at Merrimack College, and gives them the all-important first win on home ice this season. 

Next weekend, the team will travel to Gallant Arena at Merrimack College, home to the Islanders HC, for a three game showcase.  Thursday they will take on the Islanders HC in a 5:50pm puck drop.  Friday they will take on Okanagan at 11:10am and the South Shore Kings at 9:20am on Saturday.

The Flyers will next return home on December 3rd and 4th, when they take on the Syracuse Stars at the Flyers Skate Zone in the first of four home games in the month of December.