Valencia Flyers season review

By Matt Robinson/Valencia Flyers Junior A Hockey                                                 3/21/2014  1300 EST

Most franchises would consider a season with 27 wins, 58 points, and a third straight playoff appearance and a first round exit on a team with only two returners on the roster a successful season to build on.

The Valencia Flyers however feel their season ended too soon. A roster filled with young talent, immense amounts of speed and skill, and solid goaltending has the right to feel that way. Their back to back overtime losses to Ontario in the first round of the playoffs were an unjust way to end the season, but that is part of the growing pains of a young team.

The Flyers entered the season with not so lofty expectations. The young roster was expected to scratch and claw for a playoff spot, ultimately sneaking in behind the teams that were considered to be the top three in the Pacific division in Fresno, Ontario and Lake Tahoe.

The season schedule did not look favorable from the start as the Flyers had trips to Idaho and El Paso, two league powerhouses, planned for the beginning and end of the season, as well as a tough out of divisional home schedule against two playoff contenders in Missoula and Texas.

The season started out on a rough note as Valencia lost 6 of its first 8 games, with two losses coming in overtime to Idaho and Fresno, leaving them at a 2-4-2 record early.

The team would find its footing soon after winning 7 of its next 9 games, including taking two out of three against what many thought was the second best team in the Pacific, the Lake Tahoe Blue.

This stretch began to show the rest of the league that the Flyers were a team able to compete with top talent in the league. Their fast, tenacious style of play put other teams at a disadvantage because just when they thought they were going to get a break, another wave of speed, skill, and grit would come at them, causing pressure that would lead to mistakes and in turn goals.

A huge boost in goal also came during this stretch as Mark Becica returned to the Flyers after starting the season in the America West Hockey League. He immediately made his impact felt, winning his first 4 starts and ultimately posting the best season on record in Flyers history with a 20-6-1-0 record, 2.55 GAA, .908 save percentage, and 5 shutouts (all Flyers single season records).

The Flyers would take an 11-7-3-0 record into the Showcase, the unofficial midway point of the WSHL regular season.

The Showcase would be the week that the Flyers would show the rest of the league that they were indeed a contender in the WSHL, winning 3 of their 4 games, dominating much of the play throughout the weekend against the Dallas Snipers, Arizona Redhawks, Cheyenne Stampede, and Dallas Ice Jets (only loss on weekend).

Midway point pickups of forwards Blake Aguilar and Aharon Lara, and goaltender Luke Thompson, also helped to solidify the Flyers roster, which was proving to be much deeper than anyone else in the league expected.

Captain Austin Ehrlich had another outstanding season for the Flyers, putting up 24 goals and 38 assists (98 assists lifetime, second all-time in franchise history), leading the team not only in points, but by example, doing all the little things it takes to win games.

Two Canadian boys in Zach Paxman and Jakob Kranabetter had strong rookie campaigns for the Flyers. Paxman lead the team in goals with 24 and Kranabetter was second in assists with 26, both proving to be key assets in the Flyers push for the playoffs.

Adam Papayoanou, Luc Whyte, Nik Giers, Jared Waldman and Wil Barnett all contributed as well down the stretch, filling their roles nicely and giving the team that balance that was needed to make the team dangerous.

The Flyers stormed into the second half of the season, taking two of three in Tahoe against the Blue, sweeping Missoula at home and picking up 5 of 6 points against both Texas and Fresno.

Trades with Wichita to bring defenseman Jordan Grywacheski and forward Keegan Hull and Long Beach to acquire forward Filip Andreason helped to deepen roster even further, priming the team for what could be a deep playoff run.

They were hit by injuries after the tough stretch at the worst time, having to head to El Paso to take on the Rhinos, who had only last 2 games. The Flyers would fall all three games by lopsided scores, taking away all the momentum they had built up.

The Flyers would gain some momentum back before the end of the season with a small three game winning streak, two over San Diego and one over first round opponent Ontario.

The team finished with the second best record in franchise history at 27-15-4-0, the best record since the league moved to a 46 game schedule.

The playoffs would be a disappointment though as the Flyers lost their first round series against Ontario 2-1, with both losses coming in back to back overtime games.

To take a positive away from this thought, if General Manager Scott Allegrini and Head Coach Josh Berge can manage to bring a majority of the younger players back as add some new talented faces to the roster before next season, the team now has the building blocks to become a team to be reckoned with in the WSHL.

Notes: Follow the Valencia Flyers Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates on player departures, signings, and any other news throughout the off season. Also check out valenciaflyers.net for up to the minute news on the team.

Matt Robinson is the Play-by-Play Voice of the Valencia Flyers. In addition, Matt also handles the Valencia Flyers Social Media accounts, produces stories and content for valenciaflyers.net and does Play-by-Play for College of the Canyons Ice Hockey.