Flyers Sweep at Showcase, Pull Within a Game of Phoenix Published on 12/26/2009 2:10:00 PM
The Valencia Flyers came into the WSHL Showcase in Las Vegas, Nevada rather unsure of their identity in the first half of the season.
They had started off the year red-hot and led the league for the first three weeks, winning six of their first seven games; including two huge victories over San Diego and Phoenix in overtime at home. The only loss at the start of the season was a 5-4 shootout loss to the Fresno Monsters; who are now running away with the division.
Things quickly turned south when the league-leading Flyers headed to Phoenix for three games with the Polar Bears. After three consecutive losses against the seven-time defending champions, Valencia headed home for three against Idaho. The first game was a nightmare as nothing went right in a 4-0 loss but the boys played tough and lost by only one in the final two games to the Jr. Steelheads (the only other team that went undefeated at the Showcase).
It hurt the Flyers to take only one of two from the lowly Bakersfield Jr. Condors, but they may have had their sights set on the still unbeaten in regulation Fresno Monsters the next weekend.
During the three game set in Fresno over Halloween weekend the Flyers took the lead in each game, but fell by three in all three.
The next weekend they headed to San Diego for two games and lost both as the Flyers struggled to get back to their winning ways.
A home affair with Bakersfield provided a much needed win and the next night the Flyers took down the San Diego Gulls in Escondido for their first winning streak in nearly two months.
Fresno came into town and took down the Flyers the next weekend in a game that was tied after two periods of play.
In the five regular season games before the Showcase, the Flyers played a home at home series with Long Beach and finished with a three game home stand, a Friday night matchup against Bakersfield and four gigantic points on the line with two games against 3rd place San Diego.
The Flyers lost in a shootout in Long Beach, a game in which they trailed 5-0 at one point. They came home and after allowing the Bombers to score late, Kyle Schwartz played hero in overtime in front of the home crowd.
The next Friday, Bakersfield jumped all over Flyers’ mistakes and won 8-0, marking the low point of the season.
San Diego came into town and took four points from the Flyers on Saturday and Sunday, in games that could have gone either way.
Suffice it to say the Flyers had faced a lot of adversity in the first half of the season but they were still alive and well in the playoff race. They had proved they could stick with anyone in the league, but had given up goals at in-opportune times and had dropped a lot of games due to poor third periods. If a couple bounces had gone the other way, they Flyers could very well had found themselves in third place in the division heading to Las Vegas.
But after sweeping four games in Sin City, the Flyers are making a point of showing the rest of the league who they really are, as the team seemed to play its best hockey of the year under the brightest of lights.
Game 1: Flyers vs. New Mexico Renegades (5th Place in Mid-West Division)
The Flyers took on the New Mexico to kick off the Showcase on Thursday night, and kick it off they did with a 5-0 domination of the struggling Renegades.
Stephen Estep got the start in net and stopped all six first period shots he faced, splitting the shutout with Taylor Nelson, who stopped five shots in the second half. (The Showcase games consisted of two-25 minute halves, in order to move games along with a full slate for the weekend.)
The Flyers scored four first period goals, as David Tagvoryan tallied his tenth of the year to get things started just over two minutes in.
Tagvoryan took a pass from Todd Graham and stick-handled out of the corner. The New Mexico defense kept giving the nifty forward room and he happily took it as he was able to walk in and beat goaltender Joe Jagers on a backhand shot from five feet out.
With 13:24 left in the first half, Smbat Defterderian also scored on the power play, tallying his ninth goal of the year off assists from Alex Stephens and Cameron Noland.
Artur Ketchedjian got his 5th goal of the season off an assist from Edy Keshishian with 9:49 left to make it 3-0.
For good measure Defterderian notched his second of the game and tenth of the campaign with 1:28 left before the intermission off an assist from David Knowles, to all but put the game away before the period ended.
The Flyers led 4-0 after one half and out-shot New Mexico 16-6 in a period they dominated on both ends.
They clicked for two goals on three power play chances and out-chanced the visitors five to two.
The Flyers came out flat in the second half with a four-goal lead and only recorded one shot on goal in 25 minutes of play.
On that one shot however, John Dove scored his 12th goal of the season with 1:44 left in regulation off an assist from Tagvoryan to ice the game at 5-0.
The Renegades out-shot the Flyers 6-1 for the half but had zero scoring chances to the Flyers one.
The win, albeit over a team that was struggling, got the weekend off to a good start. The Flyers played well in every facet and were off and running in Las Vegas.
Game 2: Flyers vs. Tulsa Rampage (3rd place in Mid-West Division)
Valencia headed into Friday morning’s affair with Tulsa looking for another winning streak, something that had eluded the team near the end of the first half of the season.
The Flyers got off to a quick start once more, as Edy Keshishian notched his second goal of the year just 3:21 into the game.
Keshishian worked hard all game and drove to the net hard, where he re-directed an Alex Stephens shot past the Tulsa net minder to make it 1-0 Valencia.
After things slowed down for about ten minutes, the Flyers were the recipients of a two-man advantage and Coach Bill Muckalt called a time out to rally the boys at a pivotal juncture in the game.
The timeout came up gold for Muckalt as the Flyers moved the puck all over the ice before Todd Graham one-timed the puck from the top of the circle past Jimmy Lemming to make it 2-0.
Thomas Meinhardt and leading scorer Bryan Fiol each notched an assist on the power play goal.
Tulsa answered on a power play of their own with 8:36 left in the first half, as Bobby Watson scores his 16th goal of the season, beating Stephen Estep on a one-timer off a sweet feed from Michael Criscuolo.
After one half of play the Flyers led 2-1 but were out-shot by Tulsa 11-9. Both teams notched a power play goal, as the Flyers out-chanced the Rampage 4-3 and out-hit the visitors 15-10.
The Rampage went on a rampage to start the second half, as David Scott jammed in his first of the year on a power play 4:44 into the period to tie the game at two.
31 seconds later Tyler McGreevy scored off his own rebound on a three-on-one break to once again give the Flyers a one-goal lead with 19:45 remaining. Alex Stephens gained yet another assist on the goal.
54 seconds later however, Tulsa would tie it up as Joel Albertson’s long slap shot squeaked through Estep to tie the game at three.
With the Flyers in jeopardy of losing a game in which they had out-played Tulsa, the Harout Keshishian show began.
The 20-year old forward/defenseman/forward again, scored three straight goals for the natural hat-trick, to put the game away and give the Flyers the 6-3 victory.
He scored at 13:46 on a two-on-one wrister, off a feed from David Knowles.
13 seconds later a soft back hand shot found its way in off an assist from David Tagvoryan.
To finish it off, a one-timer on a feed from Cameron Noland found its way home to complete the natural hat trick with 1:47 left in regulation.
Estep took the win, stopping 24 of 27 shots, and making a huge save with 21 minutes left in the second half, on a two-on-zero break for the Rampage.
The Flyers were out-shot and out-chanced over two halves, but out-hit the Rampage 31-19 and went 1-4 with the man advantage.
Game 3: Flyers vs. San Antonio Diablos (4th place Mid-West Division)
The next day the Flyers looked to stay undefeated against San Antonio in an early morning affair.
Stephen Estep once again got the start in net and stopped all 12 first period shots he faced, before being replaced by Andrew Lux to start the second half.
John Dove got the scoring started with his 13th of the year as the Flyers jumped out to an early lead again, just about two minutes in.
Dove banged a rebound home at even strength, with the assists going to Harout Keshishian and David Tagvoryan.
Nick Miner scored his first of the season with an absolute bomb of a slap shot that blew past Julian Talavera with 19:45 left in the first to make it 2-0. Dove and Tagvoryan picked up the assists and their second points each for the game.
Another defenseman, David Knowles scored his first of the year on the power play with 7:38 left before intermission.
Knowles broke in low from the point and Stephen Stoll slid him a perfect pass, as Knowles made no mistake, one-timing the puck in to make it 3-0 Valencia. Kyle Schwartz picked up the secondary assist on the goal, as the rout was on.
To start the second, both teams made goaltending changes, as Lux was in for Valencia and Hunter Fernandez stepped in for the Diablos.
Fernandez however, faired no better as Kyle Schwartz surprised him with a steep angled shot that lit the lamp just over a minute into the first. Schwartz’ fifth goal of the year came off assists from Thomas Meinhardt and Stoll.
Lux could not keep the shutout going as Taylor Abbott beat the 15-year old with a rebound in front with 7:17 left on the clock.
The Flyers rebounded though, as Thomas Regan scored his first of the season just 26 seconds later on a tip-in. Cameron Noland continued his point streak with the secondary assist, as Meinhardt notched his second assist of the morning.
The Flyers held on and won the game 5-1, behind a supreme effort from every forward line. The Flyers strong play was a direct result of Coach Muckalt being able to roll four lines and keep healthy legs on the ice, because everyone in the line up was giving it their all. As shown by the score sheet, even defenseman were jumping into the play and creating chances.
Valencia out-shot San Antonio 29-23, out-chanced the home team 20-11 and even out-hit them 32-31.
The Flyers power play continued to be hot, finding the net once on four chances.
Game 4: Flyers vs. Long Beach Bombers (6th Place in West Division)
The Flyers looked to conclude their Showcase on Sunday morning with a win over a familiar foe, the Long Beach Bombers.
The Flyers had seen the Bombers twice this season, with both games needing extra time to decide a winner. The Flyers won in overtime in Valencia, and dropped a game in a shootout in Lakewood earlier in the year.
This game was another close one, but did not need overtime, as the Flyers scored late to take the win 2-1 and finish the Showcase as one of only two teams to go 4-0.
Both teams lacked jump to start the game and understandably so, after playing three games in as many days.
Long Beach got on the board first however, as their leading scorer Nolan Hopkins beat Stephen Estep with a one-timer on the power play with 20:12 left in the opening period.
The Linehan brothers, who tend to haunt the Flyers, each tallied an assist on the game’s opening goal.
No more scoring would take place in the first as neither team came up with many chances.
The shots were close, with Valencia leading 9-8 and so were hits, with Valencia leading again 25-22.
Long Beach was able to convert on one of two power plays and the Flyers failed to score on their only attempt of the period.
Thomas Meinhardt would beat JP Fecteau off a beautiful aerial pass from Harout Keshishian with 16:25 remaining to get the Flyers on the board to start the second half.
Meinhardt took the pass on a two-on-one rush and wasted no time one-timing the puck over the blocker of the outstretched net minder. Big Todd Graham also got an assist on the Flyers’ first goal.
With 5:14 remaining another defenseman would score a big goal, as Casey Dennis blistered a snap shot off the cross bar and in, on the power play to give Valencia its first lead of the game.
Dennis took a cross ice pass from Stephen Stoll, who started the play at the Long Beach blue line with a huge hit on Tim Linehan. Dennis corralled the puck at the top of the right circle and let off a shot that may have surprised Fecteau, who was looking for the pass.
The Flyers held on late and weathered the storm, as Dennis’ second goal of the season proved to be enough in the 2-1 win.
Estep took the win by stopping 14 of 15 and evening his record at 11-11-2.
The Flyers were out-chanced 6-5 by Long Beach, but were able to out-shoot the Bombers 21-15, out-hit them 47-39 and went one for two on the power play, while the Bombers scored on one of four chances.
In summary the Showcase may prove to be the turning point in the Flyers season. They have proven they can beat any team the league has to offer and a good start to the second half of the season may jolt this squad right up into the final playoff spot. Be sure to check out Valenciaflyers.net for game stories and news after the Christmas break.
The next Flyers home game is against the same Long Beach Bombers on Friday, January 15, at 7:45 p.m. Be sure to head out to Ice Station Valencia and enjoy what will surely be another good game with two division rivals clashing in the new year. If you can’t make it out of the house, be sure to check out the live webcast for free, at Valenciaflyers.net.
