Flyers' peewees will ‘remember each other forever' thanks to Quebec tournament

The Flyers had a pair of tight, one-goal losses at the tourney, with the first coming in overtime

People often say hockey is a funny game.

There are times when you deserve to win but lose. And there are times when you don't deserve to win but do.

The game is not always appropriately rewarding.

The peewee Flyers were on the wrong side of that reality Tuesday morning, when they lost, 3-2, to the Long Island Stars at the Pavillon Guy-Lafleur. They played the majority of the game up the ice and in the offensive zone. However, they just couldn't find the back of the net and some unfortunate penalties hurt them.

"The boys played great, we couldn't have asked them to do much more," head coach Ben Souders said. "We just had to have some finish."

The defeat eliminated the Flyers from the historic Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament.

"From the opening faceoff, we dominated the game," team leader Rob Baer said. "We deserved a better fate, we really did. And we told the kids that — 'lift up your heads, you guys gave it everything you had.' ... We also reiterated that this is the hardest youth hockey tournament in the world to win. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day in this tournament. The better team doesn't always win and that's what we saw today."

Similar to their 3-2 overtime loss Sunday night, the Flyers raced out to a lead in the first period. Brody Grill sniped a power play goal just 4:46 minutes into the action.

But in the final 3:08 minutes of the second period, the Stars flipped the game with a pair of power play goals, the second one coming on a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Late in the third period, just after Long Island survived 32 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play for the Flyers, Cayden Burke jumped out of the penalty box and padded the Stars' lead.

With 48.2 seconds left, Harry Marshall continued his productive trip to Quebec City by scoring his second goal of the tournament. He also had two multi-point exhibition performances.

The Flyers, though, couldn't push across the equalizer.

"They did everything that we've talked about — they moved the puck really well, they created tons and tons of offense," Souders said. "Sometimes you just get a little bit snakebitten, you can't find a way to get one into the net. [Long Island] got a couple of power plays on us, which I think backed us up a little bit."

The turnout of orange and black in the stands was once again impressive. Parents, billets and others were loud in support of the Flyers' peewees.

"It's pretty wild at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday that you've got a building filled with people wearing Flyers jerseys in Quebec City," Baer said. "It never gets old seeing that."

The Flyers build their squad with open tryouts in June, whittling things down from 250 players to 19 for the final roster. A lot of the kids come from different teams in the Philadelphia area and don't really all play together until practice and exhibitions leading into the tournament.

"It was an incredible group," Souders said. "They really kind of bought in to being a team and coming together, which with select teams, it isn't always as easy as you think it might be. But they were a group you would have thought had been together for 65 games the way that they acted and hung out together.

"That's what it's all about. This is an experience these boys will never forget and they'll remember each other forever, see each other around the rinks for the next 25 years and they'll be best friends. It'll be great."

As much as the elimination loss stung, the Flyers know the full experience of the trip is much more valuable than just a result.

"At the end of the day, they're still 12 and they'll bounce back pretty quickly," Baer said. "They'll be outside playing pond hockey in two hours and then we've got our billet party tonight and we've got an outdoor game to look forward to with parents and billets and anybody that wants to go rip around on the outdoor rink. So there's still plenty of more fun to be had; we just were hoping there would be a few more tournament games as part of that fun."

Souders always looks forward to seeing what the kids do next.

"I told them in the locker room there, one of my favorite parts about this whole thing is that, 'I've gotten to know you guys now and I'll be following you the rest of your hockey careers,'" he said.