The entire 2011-2012 season thus far has been that of a roller coaster ride for the Valencia Flyers. At times they have shown the ability to hang with the some of the top teams in the league and put together a string of solid games. At other times however, they have fallen flat against lesser opponents or faded late in tight games.

Friday night against the San Diego Gulls at Ice Station Valencia was a microcosm of the aforementioned ride, as the Flyers showed some resiliency and fought back from an early deficit to tie the game, only to see it evaporate in a span of 46 seconds, as the Gulls scored three times over that span en route to a 6-4 victory.

Coming into Friday night’s game, the Flyers had only beaten their long-time rival Gulls once out of the last eight previous meetings between the two teams, dating back to last season. In their only previous meeting this season, the Gulls won a close one, 4-3, back on November 19 in Valencia.

San Diego came in winners of six straight, including seven consecutive road victories, while the Flyers had been swept the previous weekend in Fresno.

The Gulls have a ton of speed and play well with a lead, so the Flyers wanted to get on the board quickly and put them on their collective heels.

Just 14 seconds after the opening faceoff, the Flyers found themselves exactly where they didn’t want to end up however; short-handed.

Forward J.P. Bouchard got called for a checking-from-behind penalty and the Gulls and the league’s 5^th best power play went to work.

Stephen Palmer made a couple of stops on point shots but with just 25 seconds left in the man advantage, San Diego did what they do so well, get on the board first.

Tyler Giovanetti took a pass in the slot from line mate Justin Lazalde and beat Palmer with a one-timer over the glove at 1:49 of the opening frame. Aaron Peterson also assisted on the goal, as San Diego’s power play continued their recent success in Valencia.

The two rivals went back and forth in one of the fastest paced games either team had seen all season. Neither side shied away from the chance to play the body and each goaltender had to make a handful of saves in the opening few minutes.

With 10:40 left in the opening period, the Gulls took advantage of a Flyers turnover and extended their lead to two.

Michael Pantano picked off an errant pass in the neutral zone and broke in two-on-one with line mate Arseny Stoyakin.

With Preston Nowak diving to get back, Pantano lifted a perfect pass over the Valencia defenseman and onto the tape of San Diego’s leading scorer, who found twine for the 17^th time this season.

The Flyers turned up the pressure late in the period, not wanting to go into the locker room down by two goals and got back within one with 1:23 left in the period on a goal by rookie defenseman Lance Pennington.

It was the tenacious fore-check of forward Cameron Randles that forced a turnover deep in the San Diego zone. Pennington corralled the puck at the point and wristed it toward the net through traffic and Walters never saw it.

For a few seconds the Flyers held the momentum, that is until another turnover led directly to a San Diego goal, this one, a backbreaker with just 43 seconds left before the intermission.

Second-year forward Tomas Busek knocked the puck away from new acquisition Jordan Furlane in the neutral zone and broke in all alone from the red line-in.

His wrist shot beat Stephen Palmer between the pads and handed the lead and momentum back to San Diego.

Head Coach Jocelyn Langlois must have had some poignant things to say in between periods to his players, as they came out like a team possessed in the middle period.

The Flyers’ top line of Eddie Keshishian, Austin Ehrlich and Sam Khongmuk struck twice, just under three minutes apart as the Flyers knotted the game at three, much to the delight of the capacity crowd at Ice Station Valencia.

At 4:32 of the period, rookie forward Austin Ehrlich picked up his 19^th goal of the season on the power play. Eddie Keshishian took the puck wide on San Diego defenseman Weston Cydell deep into the Gulls’ zone. The fourth-year defenseman Cydell turned around late and before he could get his stick down, Ehrlich took the pass and beat Walters, pulling the Flyers within one.

Not to be outdone, Keshishian, who came into the game as the second leading scorer in the entire league, scored his 19^th of the season on a breakaway to knot the game up.

Sam Khongmuk picked off a pass from the aforementioned Cydell and fed Keshishian who broke in against Walter from the blue line. The third-year forward went with his patented move, sliding the puck five-hole on Walters after a quick fake.

With all the momentum, the Flyers piled on the shots but Walters stood his ground. It won’t show up on the score sheet but Walters’ timely saves may have won the game for San Diego, even more so than what happened next.

The turning point of the game came with the Flyers short-handed after a penalty to Lance Pennington.

Keshishian, who leads the league with five short handed goals on the season, broke free for another breakaway against Walters and went with the same exact move. This time however, he was ready, getting his pads together to make a huge save, just about half way through regulation.

Shortly after the huge stop, the troubles began for Valencia.

Michael Pantano potted his fifth goal of the season, again off of a Flyers’ turnover deep in their own end with 5:04 left in the period.

24 second later, Stoyakin put home his second of the game and 18^th of the season, again off of a Flyers’ turnover.

Justin Lazalde would finish it off, just 12 seconds after the visitors took the 5-3 lead, with his 11^th goal of the campaign, as the Gulls blew the game wide open with three goals in just 46 seconds.

The Flyers would push a little harder in the third but all of the energy seemed to be out of the building, as a once lively crowd and home team seemed to slow down after the onslaught.

Flyers’ forward Greg Heimann put home his third of the season with just a minute left in regulation, but the Gulls held on for the 6-4 victory, a more than disheartening one for the Flyers, who are now 12 points back of the second-place Gulls.

Palmer took the loss, although not a single goal could be placed solely on him, stopping 25 of 31 San Diego shots.

Walters nabbed his 11^th victory of the season in net, as the Vermont native has come in this season and solidified the Gulls’ goaltending situation, something that has plagued them in the past.

The loss sends the Flyers into the all-league showcase losers of four straight and clinging to fourth place in the Western Division with 22 points (9-12-4) just three points ahead of fifth place Phoenix and five ahead of Long Beach.

The Flyers will next take the ice in Sin City with games on:

-          Saturday December 17, as they battle the Cheyenne Stampede at 9:45 am

-          Sunday December 18, as they battle the New Mexico Renegades for the third-straight season at 10:30 am

-          Monday December 19, they’ll get their first-ever look at the Dallas Snipers at 12:30 pm

-          Tuesday December 20, they will head into the holiday break after a match with the Southern Oregon Spartans of the Northern Pacific League at 8:15 am

All games can be viewed online for a small charge at www.fasthockey.com.

After the holiday break your Flyers will return home January 6-8 with three games against the Ogden Mustangs, the first of seven total home games in the month of January. Tickets start as low as $5 so bring the family out and be there when the Flyers take flight!