Flyers win twice, sit firmly in first place

By C. Scott Holland 

It wasn’t the best of home games the Leamington Flyers have played this season, but when the final buzzer sounded on Thursday, January 30, they had edged the 10th place Oakville Blades 3-2 to the delight of 675 fans. 

During the first 40 minutes though, it was a game to be taken by either team. 

The struggling Blades looked like anything but a non-playoff team as they gunned the first goal from the left lane at 3:03 of the first. It was their first shot and it eluded starter Marcus Vandenberg. 

On the heels of that tally, the Flyers Cade Bell and Gavin Grundner set up Michael Denney’s tip-in off a screen shot 50 seconds after the Oakville goal. The game remained knotted at 1-1 for the next 40 minutes.

The Flyers poured 27 shots on Blades’ goalie Alex Armelin during the first two stanzas. Sixteen of those came in the second while Flyers starter Marcus Vandenberg handled 15 over the same time period. 

Uncharacteristically, the Flyers took several late second period penalties, but their stellar defensive work kept the Blades from scoring. 

At the outset of the third, the Flyers offense came out with a burst of energy and it paid dividends. 

At 2:33, Ethan Walker and Ethan Tatomir sent Brayden Degelas buzzing around the back of the Blades’ net. Degelas came out on the right side and pounded a shot that bounded off Armelin’s goal stick and into the net for a 2-1 lead. 

A half-minute later, the Flyers were given a powerplay opportunity when Oakville’s Matteo Gauthier went to the sin bin for tripping. 

Landon Bernard hooked up with Michael Denney whose shot was halted by Armelin, but teammate Owen Fergusson was open to the left side of the net, plucked the rebound and whipped it into the opening for a 3-1 Flyers’ lead. 

It was Fergusson’s first goal as a Flyer and stood as the eventual game-winner.

Oakville closed the gap a minute later when Marcus Hookong’s right lane bullet zipped past Vandenberg. 

On Saturday night at Caledon the Flyers fell behind 1-0 in the first period but propelled themselves to a 3-1 victory. 

Caledon had their first goal negated through the first but rebounded shortly thereafter on a three-on-one rush to take a 1-0 lead. 

The Flyers got rolling in the second period when Gavin Grundner notched two goals to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Denney’s marker at 13:29 served as the eventual game-winner. 

Connor Davis stopped 17 of 18 Caledon shots for his second Flyers’ win between the pipes.

The Flyers have nine regular season games remaining of their 56-game schedule with four of those at home. This Thursday, February 6 the Flyers will host the Milton Menace at 7:10 pm.