The Leamington Flyers continue to roll as they reeled off two more wins in this young season over the weekend.
With 675 noisy fans cheering on the hometown Flyers in their home opener Thursday, Sept. 11 versus the Georgetown Raiders, Leamington clung to a slim lead for 40 minutes before surging in the third to defeat the Raiders 5-0.
On the road in Mississauga on Saturday the 13th, the Flyers struggled for 40 minutes before they grabbed a lead and held on to it for a 6-4 victory in goalie Gannon Hunter’s first OJHL game.
Head coach Dale Mitchell and his assistant coaches have their hands full this season with a large number of newcomers.
“We are still learning,” said Mitchell. “We are a new group that is slowly gelling together. The results are positive, but we want to continue the process every day, game in and game out. We are still early in the season and constantly evaluating what we have.”
In Thursday night’s home opener, Flyers starting netminder Tre Altiman stopped all 18 Georgetown scoring attempts that came his way to earn the shutout and run his record to 2-0.
After the pre-game ceremonies where each Flyers player was announced, they got down to business and threatened Georgetown netminder Ivan Kastelan 14 times in the first, another 14 in the second and 20 more times in the third.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 8:51 of the first when Griffin Grundner sent Ashton Darocy on a shorthanded breakaway and Darocy gunned his shot past Kastelan.
Excellent defensive work enabled Leamington to survive some early second-frame pressure by Georgetown, and Altiman turned in a number of good saves to keep the slate clean. Tyler Ross and Brayden Degelas clicked on passes before Jak Thiessen blasted a left lane screen shot to make it 2-0.
It was all Flyers in the third as they limited the Raiders’ scoring chances to only four shots and utilized a sustained offensive attack and good puck control.
The Flyers three-goal third period splurge began with Grundner and Degelas who hooked up with Darocy for his second tally of the contest — a bullet shot from the top of the slot.
At 8:10, Braedon Clark’s rebound bounced onto Grundner’s stick and Grundner deftly stuffed it into the right side for a 4-0 lead. Reid Hayes and Captain Adrian Bosev put the finishing touches on the Flyers’ victory when they found Landon Pickersgill who ripped a shot from the right side.
Saturday night in Mississauga, the Chargers gave the Flyers and goalie Gannon Hunter a headache for over 40 minutes before a third period surge put them into a lead which they held.
The Chargers took a lead before Ethan Tatomir blasted a left point shot to tie it.
Down 2-1 in the second, Sebastian Sanfilippo cashed in on a two-on-one break. But the Chargers went ahead once more.
The Flyers’ fortunes changed in the third when Brayden Degelas notched two, the first coming on an open right side and the second on a left lane drive.
Brayden Lappalainen chipped in a marker and Jak Thiessen deposited an empty-net goal to complete the victory.
There will be no home game this week but the Flyers return on Thursday, September 25 to host Collingwood Blues at 7:10 pm.
