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Ochterbeck’s Huge Weekend Leads Little Flyers to Sweep

By Tom Robinson, 12/07/17, 1:15PM MST

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In USHL, Fargo Force keep rolling with league’s top three scorers

Ochterbeck’s Huge Weekend Leads Little Flyers to Sweep

Alex Ochterbeck, a native Texan, led the way when the Philadelphia Little Flyers swept the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights in an Eastern Hockey League weekend home-and-home series.               

Ochterbeck had four goals and an assist in a 6-4 road win Friday, and then added a goal and an assist in Sunday’s 4-1 victory on home ice.     

Special teams play was a big part of the weekend for the EHL’s scoring leader, who reached the midway point of the regular season with 52 points.               

Ochterbeck had a short-handed goal and a power-play goal in Friday’s win. The power-play goal started him on scoring the last three goals for the Little Flyers (19-6-0).               

In Sunday’s win, Ochterbeck assisted on the game-winning goal, then scored on the power play later in the second period as the Little Flyers came from behind for the second straight game.

Ochterbeck played for his hometown Dallas Stars program before joining the Little Flyers last season.

USHL RANKINGS: The Fargo Force climbed to the top of the usahockeymagazine.com Power Rankings for the United States Hockey League, as of the start of December.              

Fargo, the league’s highest-scoring team, moved up from fourth a month ago. The Force is 12-6-1-1.               

Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup leads the league in scoring, followed by Grant Hebert. Griffin Loughran is tied for third.               

The Tri-City Storm (12-4-0-0) remains second. The Storm has allowed the league’s fewest goals (28 in 16 games for an average of 1.75).               

NEW LEADER: The Philadelphia Rebels began the weekend in third place in the North American Hockey League East Division. But after three straight wins over the Northeast Generals, the former second-place team, the Rebels found themselves three points ahead of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights.               

Dusan Kmec’s first NAHL goal helped start the sweep and Eli Billing’s first shutout helped complete it.               

The Rebels won 4-3 in overtime Friday, 7-2 Saturday and 3-0 Sunday.               

Alex Frye scored two goals and Kmec, a defenseman, scored the overtime game-winner in the series opener.               

Kmec was one of seven players who scored in Saturday’s win.               

Billing had 25 saves in the series finale.            

STREAK STOPPER: The Breckenridge Bolts became the first team to hold Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League scoring leader Ian Zaleski scoreless this season.              

By containing Zaleski, the Bolts were able to beat the Pikes Peak Miners 5-3 on Monday.               

Zaleski, a native of Boise, Idaho, had 20 goals and 15 assists in a season-opening, 16-game scoring streak.              

COLLEGE COMMITMENTS: Two NAHL forwards are among those who recently made college commitments.             

Andrew Bellant from the Philadelphia Rebels is headed to Michigan Tech, beginning next fall, and Reed Robinson from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights committed to Niagara University.           

Bellant, a 20-year-old from Linden, Michigan, is the franchise’s all-time leader in career points (105), goals (47), assists (61), games played (130) and penalty minutes (357). He was named as the team’s Best Offensive Player in 2016-17 and is tied for second on the team with 19 points this season.               

Robinson, 19, from Rockwall, Texas, is second on the Knights with 10 goals and 14 assists in this, his third season in the NAHL.               

ONE-TIMERS: The Walpole Express (17-5-3) returned from a 16-day layoff to win four straight EHL games with the help of six assists and strong play on defense by Josh Grasso as well as two goals and six assists by forward Chris Peters … Kyle Cote and Cameron Bickford scored for the Texas Brahmas in the third period Sunday to extend the team’s North American 3 Hockey League winning streak to 19 games in a 2-1 win over the Point Mallard Ducks … The Rochester Ice Hawks, just three years removed from a 42-8-2 finish and ninth straight national championship appearance, dismissed head coach Eric Hofmann and assistant Vinnie Susi, naming Chris Blasius head coach after a 12-game NA3HL losing streak dropped the Ice Hawks to 4-16-0-0.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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