Flyers drop three to end season; face Georgetown in playoffs

It’s been a rather long season and as relishing as it was to finish third in the West, the Flyers need to refocus to start the playoffs and put the last few games in the trunk. 

Last Thursday night’s game, Feb. 29, was a battle of two of the OJHL’s top-tier teams as the Wellington Dukes edged the Flyers 3-2 in double overtime on a weird bounce. 

Prior to that, it was like watching two completely different games as the Dukes dominated the first half before the Flyers took control for much of the second portion and two overtime frames. 

The result was a disappointment for a good majority of the 884 fans who watched the contest, along with a rather large contingent of Wellington fans. 

But the Flyers’ slide did not stop there. They lost Friday night to the St. Michael’s Buzzers 4-1 and to the lowly eighth-place Brantford 99ers 3-2 on Sunday. 

Even head coach Dale Mitchell was not thrilled about Thursday’s game. “Pretty disappointed about the start,” he said. “Hard to play when given the opposition is given a five-on-three powerplay situation.” 

Despite the tough first period, Mitchell did see some positives.

“I was really happy about our comeback and forcing overtime,” he said. “But I don’t take stock in overtime, three-on-three hockey. That is for the fans and is not the way things work in the playoffs.” 

Prior to the game, the Flyers honoured their three overage players – captain Cayden Faust, Alex Cunningham and Jason Daraiche – with a short ceremony which highlighted their OJHL careers. 

The second-place (East Division) Dukes showed why they are one of this season’s powerhouses as they took a 2-0 first-period lead and for roughly 10 minutes from the start of the second period, outshot the Flyers 12-1. 

The Dukes got on the board at 3:37 when Ryan Schaap collected a left-side rebound and whipped it past Leamington starter Sebastian Gatto. At 16:05, a slashing penalty was given to Flyer Brayden Degelas and head coach Dale Mitchell was not happy about the call. Mitchell questioned it vehemently and was rewarded with a bench minor penalty which gave Wellington a five-on-three powerplay. The Dukes did not take long to score as Cory Jewiit’s left-side screen shot handcuffed Gatto. 

Down 2-0, the Flyers first half of the middle frame was spent defending their own zone but some good defensive work and stellar plays by Gatto kept the Dukes off the scoreboard. 

The Flyers got their break at 16:31 on a powerplay when Cam Arquette and Cayden Faust worked the puck to Alex Cunningham, who drove to the net and flipped the puck into the twine to cut the lead to 2-1. From that juncture, the Flyers came to life. 

The third period featured both teams going back and forth in an effort to get the next important tally. 

It was the Flyers who got that marker at 8:30 when Nick Mahy and Griffin Grundner worked the puck to Chris O’Flaherty, who hustled to split the two defensemen and go alone on Wellington starter Jack Lisson. O’Flaherty wasted little time and rifled a shot past the Dukes’ goalie that knotted the game.

During the rest of the third and the first overtime the Flyers did everything but put the puck in the net. Leamington applied plenty of pressure in the four-on-four first overtime but couldn’t dent Lisson’s armor. 

Just under one minute into the second overtime, Wellington’s Nick Dipaolo went on a breakaway but his shot went high and wide then bounced off the glass behind the net and bounded directly back to Dimitri Alexander-Tzaferis, who had Gatto caught completely out of his net and made no mistake for the winning goal.

Friday night’s 4-1 loss at St. Michael’s saw Marquise Brown fire the lone Flyers’ tally as they fell behind 2-0 in the first. Carson Barnes stopped 29 of 33 shots.

Their final regular season game Sunday afternoon in Brantford was a closer affair. It was tied 1-1 and 2-2 before a Brantford goal in the third became the difference. Darian Anderson and Chris O’Flaherty planted the Flyers’ markers. Goalie Sebastian Gatto stopped 30 of 33 shots.  

The playoffs begin at home on Friday, March 8 at 7:10 pm as the Flyers host Georgetown.

Game two goes Saturday, March 9 in Georgetown at 7:30 pm.

Game three is in Leamington Thursday, March 14, while game four is in Georgetown Saturday, March 16. 

Game five (if necessary) will be in Leamington on Sunday, March 17 at 5:10 pm. Game six is set for Georgetown on Wednesday March 20, with game seven set for Leamington on Thursday, March 21, 7:10 pm.