Flyers win two, tie one over busy weekend

By C. Scott Holland 

By the standards of most Leamington Flyers home games this season, last Thursday night’s 5-2 win over the visiting Burlington Cougars wasn’t a typical one. 

For the majority of the contest the home team played solid defensively and made the most of their scoring chances. But in the second half of a home-and-home in Burlington on Friday night, it was a different story as the two teams played to a 3-3 draw. The Flyers completed the three-game weekend by nipping the King Rebellion 1-0.   

Much of the team’s success has centered around the play of OJHL scoring leader Colton Smith whose hattrick Thursday put his season goals total at 27. Smith finished the night with four points. 

Smith wasn’t the only key ingredient that led to Thursday’s victory. 

Starting goalie Marcus Vandenberg stopped 40 of 42 Cougars attempts en route to his ninth victory of the campaign. Leamington led 2-1 and 3-1 before slotting two in the third to build a 5-1 lead. 

Head coach Dale Mitchell wasn’t thrilled about the way his team had performed despite getting the win and two points.

“I didn’t love our game last (Thursday) night,” Mitchell said. “I thought we came out flat and let Burlington take the game to us. We were able to capitalize on our chances but we need to be better than we were. We found a way to win the game and it was only because Marcus Vandenberg shut the door to allow us the win.”

 Burlington outworked the Flyers in offensive chances however it was the Flyers defensive crew combined and Vandenberg who kept the slate as clean as possible. 

After a brief interval in the opening minutes where the play was dictated by the Cougars, the Flyers got going just after the midway point when Griffin Grundner and Ashton Darocy found Colton Smith, who cranked a left wing shot that hit the top corner for a 1-0 lead at 13:00. 

Two minutes later the Cougars knotted the game and the battle between the two clubs escalated. 

On a late powerplay, Anthony Ciaramitaro and Gavin Grundner laid the groundwork for Smith’s second tally which was lofted into the net from the left point.

While the score didn’t change for the opening minutes of the middle stanza, it was like the Flyers and Vandenberg were under siege by the Cougars’ offense. What may have been a key play of the game occurred at 5:27 when Mason Landry’s pass from behind the Cougars’ net hit Griffin Grundner, who was anchored in the slot, and Grundner wasted no time drilling it past Burlington starter Leland Gill for a 3-1 edge. 

During the remainder of the frame, the tempers of both teams heated up and continued to boil until the final buzzer.    

Leamington increased their lead to 4-1 during a five-on-three powerplay opportunity at 11:24. Smith and Brody Cook found Daniel Vasic, who gunned the puck into the twine. At 15:10, while on another extra-man advantage, Gavin Grundner slotted Smith the puck and Smith unleashed a left point screen shot which eluded everybody and made it a 5-1 game. 

A right wing shot by Burlington in the last minute of play handcuffed Vandenberg to complete the scoring at 5-2.

On Friday night in Burlington, the Flyers rallied to gain a 3-3 tie after Burlington led 1-0 for the first 40 minutes and then had upped it to  3-1. 

The Flyers tabbed two third-period markers for the tie and played through two five-minute overtime periods without scoring. Gavin Grundner got Leamington on the board in the third before Michael Denney and Daniel Vasic created the deadlock. Vasic’s tally came at 15:34 on a powerplay. Goalie Tre Altiman stopped 29 shots. 

On Sunday, the Flyers played their final regular season game against the pesky ninth-place King Rebellion. It was a scoreless first two frames. The Flyers’ went ahead at 8:51 of the third when Anthony Ciaramitaro crushed a powerplay goal past King goalie Carter Bickle. That goal was all Leamington needed for a 1-0 victory. Marcus Vandenberg stopped 36 shots for his third shutout of the season and a league-leading goals against average of 1.34.

This week the Flyers have two home games. On  Thursday, November 14 they host the Stouffville Spirit at 7:10 pm and on Sunday, November 17 they face the Caledon Admirals at 6:10 pm.