With the first half of the regular season coming to a close, the Valencia Flyers took to the road for a couple of key divisional games this past weekend, as they looked to ascend the Pacific Division standings.

On Friday night, the team traveled south to Lakewood for a clash with the Long Beach Bombers, who had a promising start to the season but had only picked up one win over their last 13 outings.

Although they’ve fallen on hard times as of late, the Flyers knew they could not take the Bombers lightly, as they had already lost two of the three previous meetings to them earlier this season.

The Flyers wasted no time jumping on the home team, scoring three times in the opening frame to take control of the game from the outset.

Forwards Dmitriy Dementev and Eddie Keshishian each collected a goal and an assist in the first period onslaught while Ludovic Beaupre picked up his sixth goal of the season.

Things calmed down the rest of the way but Keshishian completed his “Gordie Howe Hat-Trick” with a second period tilt and Jacob Larsson scored the only goal of the game over the final two periods.

Goaltender Stephen Palmer stopped all 31 shots he faced in his second shutout of the season.

The next night, the Flyers headed further south to Ontario for a clash against the first-year Avalanche, who have not been easy to beat at home so far this season.

Ontario had also had the Flyers number early in the season, beating them two of three times but the visitors got off to another good start, leading them to their second road win in a many nights.

Preston Nowak and Austin Ehrlich each notched two goals an assist, while Hunter Jensen added two assists of his own in a 4-2 win.

Goaltender Jesper Sannerborg weathered a late storm from the Avalanche and picked up his third win of the season, stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced.

With the Western States Shootout just around the corner, the Flyers have one more divisional weekend ahead of them before they head to Las Vegas, as they take on the San Diego Gulls for two games in Escondido on Friday and Saturday night.

All of the action can be seen live at fasthockey.com, so be sure to follow your Flyers as they climb to the top of the division!