By: Brent W Maranto

Without Head Coach Bill Muckalt the Valencia Flyers headed into their last game of a three game home stand with hopes of salvaging a game from a weekend that had not been kind to a squad in desperate need of points.
 
General Manager Scott Allegrini found himself at the helm during a Sunday morning matinee affair; the Flyers final game before bussing to Las Vegas for the WSHL Showcase.

Stephen Estep got the nod in net for the Flyers for the third time in as many days and Cameron Noland also returned to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension.

In the previous two games of the weekend set the Flyers came out with plenty of speed and aggressiveness, but this game was different from the get-go.

The Gulls used their size to their advantage and an aggressive fore-check helped the visitors to force five Valencia minor penalties in the opening period.

After going just one for eight with the man advantage just over 12 hours prior, the Gulls notched goals on their first three power play chances of the game Sunday.

Defenseman Weston Cydell got the scoring started 3:16 into the first, scoring his 6th of the year with an assist going to goaltender Jason Campbell.

With Kyle Schwartz in the box for an offensive zone hooking call, Cydell took the puck end-to-end into the Flyers zone. The big blue-liner had scored with a monstrous slap shot the evening before and a fake shot at the blue line froze Flyers defenseman David Knowles. Cydell skated wide and got a wrist shot off on Stephen Estep that was stopped. The rebound however, came right back to Cydell who slammed it back between the legs of the 6’5 net minder to give the Gulls a 1-0 lead on the power play.

Just about two and a half minutes later the Gulls’ leading scorer Brian Finn notched his 16th of the year from Chris Schmidbauer and Alan Grabowski with Valencia rookie defenseman Jake Ryan off for slashing.

Finn was the beneficiary of a beautiful cross-crease pass by Schmidbauer, and was able to put the puck past a prone Estep from the side of the net.

The Gulls would capitalize for the third time in as many chances with the man advantage with 8:07 left in the first period. Chris Schmidbauer banged home a rebound in front of the Flyers net, tallying his 14th goal of the season, with Alan Grabowski notching the lone assist on the play.

After one period of the play the difference was easy to spot, other than the obvious 3-0 lead. The Gulls were three for five on the power play, scoring on their first three chances. While the Flyers, three for eight the night before, failed to score on two chances.

San Diego also outshot the home team 19-7, but the Flyers out chanced the Gulls 7-4 and out hit the bigger squad 24-21.

Things seemed to settle down in the second period, as each team had its chances but Estep and Campbell both played well between the pipes as the game carried along.

The long goal in the period was again scored by the Gulls on the power play, as Weston Cydell scored his second of the game and 7th of the season with 15:48 left in the middle period.

With the Gulls flurrying, Cydell collected the puck at the top of the circle. He was able to walk nearly to the bottom of the circle untouched and snapped a shot past Estep to make it 4-0.

Alan Grabowski and Brian Finn each tallied assists on San Diego’s fourth power play goal of the game.

Shots evened up more in the second as San Diego outshot the Flyers 15-13 and had four scoring chances to Valencia’s two. Again, two themes continued; San Diego went one for three on the power play in the period, while the Flyers again went zero for two.

A bright spot over the weekend however, was the Flyers’ ability to play the body in all three games over the weekend; as again they out hit the Gulls 21-20.

The Flyers may have played better in the third but now trailed by four, and were without leading scorer Bryan Fiol, who left the game in the second with an apparent ankle sprain.

The third period was rather quite as neither side made much noise, as both teams looked a little tired, playing two tough games in well less than 24 hours.

In a game marred with plenty of penalties, there was not a single man sent to the box until the 13:33 mark of the final period.

With the Flyers fighting to get back into the game, defenseman Joey Yaller, fresh off a knee injury that kept him out for nearly three months, was the victim of a tomahawk slash at the hands of San Diego forward Brendon Dyok.

Jake Ryan chased down Dyok, as both exchanged gloves shots with both teams converging in front of the San Diego bench.

Ryan received five for fighting and the instigator package; two for instigating and a ejection from the contest. Dyok got two for roughing, five for slashing and also got an ejection.

The final penalty out of a situation that could have turned ugly, if not for the ability of referee David Gibbons to calm things down, was a two minute minor and ten minute misconduct for roughing handed out to San Diego defenseman Don Keffer.

11 seconds into their ensuing power play the Flyers took a barrage of penalties and would play the rest of regulation shorthanded.

Smbat Defterderian could not find a dance partner but was still able to get a double minor for roughing and ejection.

David Knowles got the aforementioned instigator package and the boot, while Casey Dennis got a game misconduct and will be out for the first game of the Showcase.

While short handed, Cameron Noland, who played well all morning, scored his 6th of the year off an assist from Stephen Stoll with 4:52 remaining in the contest.

Noland hopped around a San Diego defenseman at the blue line and beat Jason Campbell with a deceiving wrist shot that seemed to pick up speed late.

Just 52 seconds later San Diego’s power play again flexed its muscles as Jonathan Neal beat Estep with a wrister from the bottom of the circle from Schmidbauer and Grabowski yet again to make it 5-1.

For good measure the Gulls tallied their sixth power play goal of the game with 3:22 left in the period to make it 6-1.

Theo Campe positioned himself in front of Estep and jammed home a loose puck for his 11th of the year, Weston Cydell and Jonathan Neal garnered the assists, in what would be the final goal of the game.

In the third period the Flyers were out shot 18-13, as the Gulls were able to score twice on four power play chances, with the Flyers again drawing blank on one opportunity.

The Flyers out hit the Gulls 28-9 and out chanced the visitors, who won their fifth in a row, 8-6.

Jason Campbell took the win for the Gulls, who next play on Tuesday against Long Beach before heading out to Las Vegas.  Campbell has been good in limited time, now with a record of 5-1-1.

Alan Grabowski led the offensive charge, with four assists on the day.

Three other Gulls tallied three points on the morning; Weston Cydell scored two goals and an assist while both Chris Schmidbauer and leading scorer Brian Finn were credited with a goal and two assists.

Defenseman Jonathan Neal also scored a goal and an assist, before taking a puck to the throat with just seconds remaining. We’re happy to report Neal is doing fine after a few tense moments.

Stephen Estep took his third consecutive loss for the Flyers, stopping 51 of 57 shots and seeing his record drop to 7-11-2. The score sheet is no indication however, of how well Estep played.

Cam Noland logged tons of ice time for a short handed Flyers squad, playing with a handful of different defensive partners and scoring the lone goal of the game for Valencia.

The Flyers open up the WSHL Showcase on Thursday, December 17 as they take on the Mid-West Division’s New Mexico Renegades at 7:30 p.m.

Be sure to check out the Flyers in Sin City at Fasthockey.com, as yours truly will be along for all four Flyers’ games.

Also, make plans to come out to the Flyers’ next home game on Friday, January 15 at 7:45 p.m. That game is the front end of a home-at-home battle with the Long Beach Bombers.