It was a busy week for the Leamington Flyers as they played three games in four nights, but ultimately swept the Buffalo Junior Sabres in four straight games.
After blowing out the Jr. Sabres by a 6-1 score on Tuesday, March 25, Thursday night’s home game featured over 1,000 fans plus the excitement of a jumbotron TV that flashed messages, replays and portions of the game. The jumbotron was situated at the rink’s north end and received a wide variety of comments.
There was plenty of end-to-end action and few penalties Thursday, although many fans might have wanted a few more whistled. But when the dust had cleared at the end of 60 minutes, the Flyers had won 4-3 and taken a 3-0 series lead.
They followed that with a 4-1 victory in Buffalo on Saturday to end the series.
Tuesday night’s victory came after the opening frame was knotted 1-1. Leamington’s domination began in the second frame during which they expanded to 3-1 before Colton Smith finished a one-man assault on the Jr. Sabres by notching a hattrick and Marcus Vandenberg halted 22 of 23 shots while Buffalo’s Anthony Alessi stopped 23 of 29.
Owen MacDonald’s left point cannon knotted the game late in the first. Midway through the second, Brody Cook’s powerplay tally boosted the Flyers into the lead. Colton Smith began his hattrick at 19:00 with a blast from the left faceoff circle and it was 3-1 for the Flyers.
Near the 12-minute of the third, Smith went on a breakaway and gunned a left lane shot that sailed into the net. About 90 seconds later, Gavin Grundner plucked a right side rebound and drew it to Brayden Degelas, who was anchored in the slot. Degelas ripped it immediately for goal five. Smith completed his hattrick at 17:50 with a left lane screen shot.
On Thursday, the two teams battled to a scoreless first period draw.
Ashton Darocy and Griffin Grundner laid the groundwork for captain Adrian Bosev, who plucked a right side rebound and flicked it past Buffalo starter Dylan Grover. Near the seven-minute mark, Dalton Kane and Gavin Grundner hooked up with Brayden Degelas whose left lane low liner eluded Grover and gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
But a defensive lapse and subsequent Flyers’ penalty allowed Buffalo to knot it at 2-2. Brody Seitz drilled a right lane shot past starter Marcus Vandenberg and a powerplay goal by Cam Doran not long afterward.
The Flyers regained a slim one-goal lead when Gavin Grundner’s left lane pass connected with Michael Denney in the slot. Denney gunned the puck and caught Grover off guard.
Buffalo outshot the Flyers in the third, but it was Bosev who nabbed the eventual game-winner at 8:16. That tally put the Flyers ahead 4-2 but the Sabres refused to go quietly.
They battled hard and Michael Kull was allowed to enter the Flyers’ zone unchecked and released a shot that made it 4-3 at 11:41.
During the remaining eight and a half minutes, the Flyers played with defensive responsibility. They blocked shots and thwarted as many scoring attempts as they possibly could while Marcus Vandenberg made some timely saves to gain a 4-3 victory and lead the series 3-0. Both goalies finished with 30 saves each.
“In game two we played a pretty good game and executed on our special teams,” said head coach Dale Mitchell. “We did an excellent job taking away grade A chances from them (Buffalo) and scored on ours.”
“On Thursday, we came out flying and were awesome for the first five minutes,” Mitchell added. “I thought Buffalo weathered the storm well and played a good game. They battle tested us and we managed to hold on for the victory.”
On Saturday night in Buffalo, the Flyers looked to close out their second-round series and they did just that with some strong goaltending and defensive work by Vandenberg who stopped 15 of 16 shots.
After a scoreless first, the Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Griffin Grundner’s solo drive at 19:01 of the second.
That one goal lead held until a shorthanded goal by Buffalo’s Cam Doran at 11:59 of the third tied the game. The Flyers replied with a shorthanded tally of their own off the stick of Cade Bell at 14:43.
The Flyers’ defense went into high gear the rest of the way and Buffalo lifted goaltender Alessi with two minutes left for an extra attacker.
Michael Denney banked an empty-netter off the boards only seconds after a faceoff and then Marquis Brown tabbed a second one at 18:27 with a shot straight down the middle.
The Flyers will start the West Conference finals versus the Milton Menace with game 1 here. Check various media and the OJHL website for updates on West Finals schedule, which was not available at press time.
