It certainly wasn’t a March Break for the Niagara Falls Canucks as they found a noisy Leamington crowd of 1,076 and the Leamington Flyers’ dominance too much to overcome.
Heading into the Thursday, March 13 game in Leamington, the Flyers were up 2-0 in the series.
After a scoreless opening period, Leamington surged to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 4-1 win.
Then, in a seesaw battle in Niagara Falls on Friday night, Leamington kept battling back and won game four 5-4 with their first shot on net in the five-on-five first overtime, sweeping the series 4-0.
In a pre-game ceremony Thursday, Mark Garroway — who has spent many years with the club — was honoured and did the formal dropping of the puck. He has been undergoing cancer treatment and Thursday’s night’s game was his first in over a month.
Both teams had scoring chances in the first frame with Brayden Degelas having the best of anybody as he drifted down the left lane, cut to the net and made his move, but Niagara Falls starter Mikael Kingo somehow kept the puck out. The Flyers outshot the Canucks 15-10.
In the second period, the Flyers came out gunning with all barrels. They broke the deadlock at 3:10 when Ashton Darocy’s pass from the corner found captain Adrian Bosev open in the left lane. Bosev cranked out a screaming low liner that sailed past Kingo for a 1-0 lead.
On the heels of that tally, Brody Cook and Ethan Walker connected with Colton Smith, whose blistering left lane screen shot left Kingo standing still. Midway through the period, Smith would chalk up his second of the game as Walker and Michael Denney assisted. Kingo turned aside 18 Flyers shots in the middle stanza.
Canucks’ top scorer Parker Forlin spun around at the top of the slot at 10:24 of the third and had his screen shot elude Leamington starter Marcus Vandenberg for the lone blemish.
The Canucks lifted Kingo for an extra attacker with about 90 seconds left. However, the Flyers’ defense did not allow Niagara Falls to penetrate the offensive zone. The Flyers cashed in an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left in the game as Anthony Ciaramitaro and Colton Smith set up a right to left feed to Gavin Grundner, who deposited the puck into the vacated net.
Vandenberg finished with the win and made 25 saves while Kingo stopped 49 of 52.
Friday night at the Gale Centre in Niagara, the first period was much like the previous game. It ended scoreless.
But the Canucks notched two midway through the second before the Flyers got on the board with a Dalton Kane shot late in the period.
One minute into the third, Michael Denney knotted the contest and a few minutes later Ethan Walker spotted the Flyers a 3-2 lead.
Once again the Canucks were resilient. They tied the game and went ahead 4-3 at 11:37. Penalty trouble cost the Canucks as Brayden Degelas ripped a powerplay goal at 14:40 to keep the score even at 4-4.
The game proceeded to a full 20-minute overtime frame of five-on-five. The Flyers wasted little time as Michael Denney slid the puck to Gavin Grundner, who connected with Degelas, who slipped the puck into the net for the game-winner just 25 seconds into OT.
Vandenberg stopped 20 of 24 shots for the win, while Kingo was swamped with 65 Flyers’ attempts.
“I was really happy with our group tonight,” said head coach Dale Mitchell. “We fought back from a 2-0 deficit and 4-3 score. We generated plenty of offence tonight. Credit to their goalie (Mikael Kingo) who stood on his head.”
“We know the competition will get stiffer and we have to be ready come next Friday,” he added.
The Flyers next round opponent is unknown, but will be the winner of the Buffalo-Toronto Patriots series. Buffalo leads 3-2. Stay tuned to local media for further details.
