By DJ Mark

After suffering a gut-wrenching overtime loss at the hands of their in-state rivals this past weekend, the Philadelphia Flyers Junior Hockey team will return to the New England Sports Center again this weekend for another three game weekend showcase.  The Flyers will take on the Springfield Pics on Saturday at 6:10pm, followed by a 3:00pm puck drop against the Junior Bruins on Sunday.  They will wrap up the weekend with a Halloween morning tilt on Monday at 10am with the Islanders Hockey Club.

This past weekend, the Flyers suffered two home ice losses to their rival, the Jersey Hitmen.  They dropped Saturday’s game by a final of 5-1.  On Sunday, they were delivered a crushing overtime loss, after carrying a 2-1 lead into the third period.  They would lose the lead mid-way through the third period, but would get it right back on a goal by Mario Tropea less than two minutes later.  Unfortunately, Tucker DeYoung would net a power play goal for Jersey with less than four minutes left to play to tie the game.  Then just two minutes into overtime, Tomas Psenicka would score for Jersey to end the game 4-3.  The Flyers earned a point, but desperately needed two, but could not manage to do so.

The Flyers will head into this weekend with a 3-9-2 record.  They face a Springfield team with a 5-8-2 record, Junior Bruins with a 9-4-0 record, and an Islanders HC team with an 11-3-0 record, good for 2nd place in the Premier Division. 

The Flyers are no strangers to any of the three teams they will be facing this season.  They have faced each team twice so far this season.  They have faced Springfield in two separate showcases so far this year, dropping both games by final scores of 5-4 on September 26th, and 5-2 on October 9th.  They just recently faced the Junior Bruins, playing host to Boston two weekends ago in their first games at the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone this season, where Boston took both games by finals of 7-1 and 4-2.  And they faced Islanders HC in their previous trip to New England, playing two of their three games in that showcase against the Islanders.  The Islanders took both games by finals of 6-1 on September 24th and 6-2 on the 25th.  Being a combined 0-6 against all three teams, the Flyers are looking for three big wins this weekend to increase their point total and finally get the best of all three teams this season.

Players to Watch:

For the Flyers, Brendan Ferguson was without a doubt the standout player of last weekend’s home set against Jersey.  He managed to net the only goal of the game for the team on Saturday, and got the team on the board with their first goal of the game on Sunday.  Ferguson has had help from his linemates in Mateo Capriotti and Vlad Sorokin.  Watch to see if that line continues to produce for the Flyers this weekend.

For Springfield, Hayden Smith and Nicholas Bondra have jumped out to be tied for the points lead on the team.  Keep an eye on those two as they clearly have been leading the team in production.

For the Bruins, Dallas Farrell still leads the team in points, and was a killer against the Flyers two weeks ago earning two goals and two assists on the weekend.  He is without a doubt a player the Flyers must keep an eye on and shadow while he is on the ice.

For Islanders HC, this team clearly is firing on all cylinders, being in 2nd place so far in the Premier Division just one point out of first.  Matt Thompson with 12 goals and 12 assists on the year leads the Premier Division in goals and points so far.  Lucas Michaud isn’t too far behind.  Both players are powerhouses on the offensive front for the Islanders.