Last Thursday night’s Flyers home game versus the Burlington Cougars turned out to be a bit more thrilling than initially expected.
The Flyers notched an early goal then did everything but score until an unexpected turn of events in the third period. As the clock counted off the game’s final seconds, what appeared to be a Flyers’ shutout evaporated as the visiting Cougars tabbed their lone goal. Despite not performing as well as in recent games, Leamington won the contest 2-1.
On Saturday, the Flyers visited the first-place Toronto Patriots and fell 4-1.
Much of Thursday’s game was spent battling for puck possession. Quality shots by both teams were few, and both goalies, Flyer Gannon Hunter and Cougar Carter Vicente, turned aside scoring chances. Vicente stopped 36, while Hunter halted 28.
Head coach Dale Mitchell agreed that it wasn’t the Flyers’ best 60 minutes of hockey.
“We didn’t play our best game,” he said. “We came out flat and waited for the play to come to us. We did get better as the game went on, but we need to execute our game plan from the moment the first puck drops.”
But Mitchell did see one positive. “It was nice that Preston Otting (#5) got his first goal,” he added.
The Flyers took a precious 1-0 lead two minutes into the game when Brayden Degelas and Spencer Vandenberg combined with Preston Otting, whose top of the slot screen shot blazed past a number of players and goalie Carter Vicente. The game remained that way despite the Flyers applying plenty of second period pressure and 14 shots on Vicente as both teams played mostly at even strength.
The game’s first critical point came at 14:37 of the third when Brayden Degelas cannoned a right shot as teammate Santiago Jimenes skated in front of goalie Vicente. Degelas’ goal was negated though when a goaltender interference penalty was called on Jimenes and left the score at 1-0 for the Flyers.
At 15:43 the Flyers Spencer Vandenberg took a long Otting feed during the penalty kill, went down the left lane on a breakaway and lofted his shot past Vicente to give Leamington a 2-0 cushion.
Unable to pull Vicente for an extra attacker until 34 seconds remained in the game, the Cougars set up in the Flyers’ end and a scramble in front of Gannon Hunter with 10 seconds left resulted in the loss of the shutout.
On Saturday night in Toronto, the Flyers tangled with the first-place Toronto Patriots and fell behind 1-0 in the first period. They bounced back in the second to knot it at 1-1 on Brendan Cooke’s powerplay tally.
Penalties in the third proved costly as a four minute kneeing call combined with another two-minute minor allowed the Patriots to take a 3-1 lead.
Starter Tre Altiman was pulled in the final minutes for an extra attacker, but the Patriots added an empty-net goal. Altiman faced an onslaught of shots stopping 44 of 47 with 24 of those coming in the first period.
From November 4 to January 6, the Zach Hyman Prospects Series will be played with three east and west teams playing a number of games in Cobourg, Milton, Mississauga and Trenton, plus a championship game in Brantford. Five Flyers players will participate in this event: Matthew Crawford, Reid Hayes, Santiago Jimenes, Brayden Lappalainen and Landon Pickersgill.
The Flyers next home game is versus the Oakville Blades on Thursday, November 6 at 7:10 pm.
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