Prior to last Thursday night’s contest here versus the Oakville Blades, the Leamington Flyers paid tribute to Remembrance Day and all of Canada’s veterans from its many wars and peacekeeping missions. Following the ceremony, the Flyers defeated the 11th place Blades 5-1 in front of 710 fans.
Sunday, November 9 at Buffalo, the Flyers lost a heartbreaker 3-1 to the Jr. Sabres.
On Thursday, Flyers’ goalie Gannon Hunter showed excellent form and allowed only one Blades shot out of 20 to elude him while opposing netminder Marcus Cruz d’Annunzio was kept busy, halting 41 of 46 Flyers’ shots.
Much of the game featured the Flyers controlling the puck and creating many offensive threats. Missing from the Flyers’ lineup were Bryce Belleau, Adrian Bosev, Ethan Tatomir and Ashton Darocy while Matthew Mesman, a 16 year-old from Amherstburg who has played with the Biosteeel Academy, wore #3 as a defensive call-up.
Mesman played steadily when given shifts and did not look out of place, suiting up again in the game at Buffalo.
Landon Pickersgill and Spencer Vandenberg hooked a pass to Brendan Cooke who unleashed a bullet screen shot from the slot at 7:55 of the first to open the scoring. Reid Hayes and Evan Hjelholt connected with Brayden Lappalainen who went right to d’Annunzio’s doorstep and deftly flipped the puck past the Blades’ goalie at 14:23. Hunter’s shutout bid was broken during the final minute of the first when an Oakville shot from the top of the slot bounded past him.
Much of the third Flyers’ goal was due to the effort of scorer Spencer Vandenberg himself. He forced two Blades’ defenseman to turn over the puck inside their own blueline and Vandenberg went in alone from the left lane and easily parked the puck behind d’Annunzio.
Five minutes later Griffin Grundner and Erik Muxlow sent Ethan Walker down the open left lane and Walker drilled the fourth tally.
In the third it was the Flyers playing keep the puck away from the Blades as a combination of good defensive and offensive work that left the Blades overwhelmed, tired and perhaps a bit frustrated. Reid Hayes and Jak Thiessen laid the foundations for Brendan Cooke who skated in a left lane semi-circle before moving towards the slot where he unleashed a cannon shot as Thiessen screened d’Annunzio to make it a 5-1 game.
At Buffalo Sunday night, the Jr. Sabres took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period and the game remained that way until the Flyers’ Ethan Walker knotted the game three minutes into the third.
The Jr. Sabres notched the game-winner at 16:51 on a Flyers’ defensive breakdown and then added an empty-net goal in the final minute after starter Tre Altiman was lifted for an extra-attacker.
The contest featured only three penalties, two of which were taken by the Flyers but neither team tabbed a powerplay goal. Altiman stopped 24 of 26 while counterpart Anthony Alessi halted 36 of 37 shots.
The Flyers will host two games this week as they face Milton Menace on Thurs. Nov. 13 at 7:10 pm and the Caledon Admirals on Sun. Nov. 16 at 6:10 pm.
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