One year and one attempt was all it took for the New Hampshire Avalanche to be the Eastern Hockey League champs.
In their inaugural season as a junior team in the EHL, the Avalanche were the dominant team as they defeated the Philadelphia Revolution 3-2 in the championship game to win their first league crown. The Avalanche finished their season at 39-7-4.
"We just had such a great group of guys," Avalanche head coachMario Martiniello, who was named EHL Coach of the Year in March, said. "It took us a little bit to get going, as we obviously didn’t have any returning players. We had to recruit very hard to put this group together, and they deserve everything that they earned. They all worked very hard this season, and it was a great battle here in Providence. I want to make sure we give plenty of credit to the Revolution. They are a great organization from the top on down, and that was a fantastic hockey game."
The reason why the Avalanche were able to win the championship is because they got off to a hot start in it. In the first period of the finals game, they won 14 of the 21 faceoffs and capitalized on their chances.
Outshooting their foe 10-6 in the frame, the Avalanche put up two goals in the first period of the game. At the 0:50 mark, AJ Przystawski gave his team a 1-0 edge on a goal assisted by Wiggle Kerbrat. Nine minutes later, Derek Tillotson scored another for the Avalanche, doubling their lead.
The dagger came about midway through the second period when Tyler Uravage put up an even-strength score assisted by Kerbrat and John Scala, giving the Avalanche a 3-0 lead. Sure, Brian Lange and Martin Kapoian managed to slip pucks past goaltender Nick Sorgio later in the game, but it was too big of a lead for the Revolution to overcome.
Sorgio was named the championship game’s Most Valuable Player as he recorded 23 saves on 25 shots directed at him. During the tournament, he went 3-1 in his four starts and posted a .934 save percentage.
During the postseason, forwards Jarrett Slear (1 goal, 5 assists) and Calvin LeClair (2 goals, 4 assists) and defenseman James Zanca (2 goals, 4 assists) were their leading scorers; each of them averaged a point per game during the playoffs. Having three players achieve that and 19 players with college commitments indicates how quickly the Avalanche were able to piece together a quality program.
"We knew from the get-go that we had a solid team, but it took us fighting through some adversity during the season to find out who we really were," assistant coach and franchise owner Mario Martiniello said. "A big reason for this victory was our depth. We rolled through all four of our lines, and weren’t afraid to send out any of our defensemen. We had the two goalies split the games here in Providence, and at the end of the day, I feel like we were the only team with enough in the tank to finish the deal."
That sort of success is a positive sign for the Avalanche moving forward. Since they established themselves as a team committed to success early, it should help them in their recruiting process, as they hope to contend year after year now.
Little Flyers offense stopped
Although they did not make it to the finals, the Philadelphia Little Flyers had some of the top offensive performances of the tournament. They were also the only team in the tournament to defeat the NH Avalanche; they did so with a 2-1 win on March 23.
The Little Flyers lit the lamp twice on seven power-play opportunities. Both of their goals — from Mitchell Hall and Grant Rinke — came in the first period with a man-advantage The next day, however, the Little Flyers weren’t so lucky as their in-city rival, the Philadelphia Revolution, blanked them in a 3-0 shutout.
Travis Pelke picked up the shutout in net for the Revolution, making 30 stops, while defensemen Hayden Ford and Christian Dahl continued playing strong two-way hockey as they did throughout the tournament. Ford had five assists in the tournament while Dahl put up four.
In the win over the Little Flyers, forwards Justin Meers and Brian Lange and defenseman Dylan Ball scored for the Revolution.
Despite being the victim of that shutout, the Little Flyers were the top-scoring team of the tournament before the Frozen Finals; in all, they put up 34 goals in seven tournament games. Forwards Joey Savel (7 goals, 7 assists), Alex Ochterbeck (3 goals, 8 assists) and defenseman Zikmund Mroz (3 goals, 6 assists) were the three leading scorers for the entire tournament, averaging more than one point per game.
