The Leamington Flyers proved not to be gracious Christmas hosts as they took two wins at home last week and also won on the road.
On Thursday, December 18, the Flyers outhustled, and outscored Collingwood winning 3-1 in front of a festive crowd of 710.
On Friday night at St. Michaels, the Flyers shutout the Buzzers 4-0, then followed that with a second straight shutout Sunday night at home, hammering the Cobourg Cougars 11-0 in front of 522 fans.
Much of Thursday’s contest was a constant battle for puck possession and featured skirmishes along the boards and corners. The rivalry between the two has increased and intensified over the last two-and-a-half seasons. While the opening frame was a rather mild one, the Flyers pummeled Blues starting goalie Colten Drillen-Roach with 17 shots and carried a 1-0 lead into the second frame.
But the second and third evolved into several incidents where clashes occurred and penalties often led to powerplay opportunities. The Flyers went 0-for-7 on the man advantage while their defense blanked the Blues on five attempts.
The Flyers started Thursday’s scoring at 11:35, when a nice back pass by Landon Pickersgill to Josh Cleary resulted in a cannon that beat Drillen-Roach for a 1-0 lead.
A Collingwood two-on-one breakaway at 3:43 of the second saw Brayden Stumpf trigger a right lane shot past Tre Altiman. It would be the lone puck Altiman would not stop.
With the game tied the contest became a bit rougher and before things got to a boiling point the Flyers went ahead 2-1 as Erik Muxlow controlled the puck behind the Blues’ net and fed Pickersgill who had a completely open right side into which he deposited the puck.
At 15:59 both teams forgot about sending Christmas cards and engaged in some shenanigans. Leamington emerged with a two-minute powerplay on which Pickersgill unleashed a blueline shot and Adrian Bosev shoveled the rebound past Drillen-Roach to make it 3-1.
Head coach Dale Mitchell reflected on the Flyers’ gritty win.
“We played really well,” he said. “We had to kill off a penalty to start the game after being assessed a warm-up violation — something I’ve never seen a home team receive since I’ve been in the league. If we continue to play like we did Thursday, we’ll be a competitive team down the stretch.”.
The Flyers visited the St. Michaels Buzzers on Friday night as Tre Altiman showed his skills, turning aside all 34 shots he faced to earn his fifth shutout of the campaign.
The Flyers pummeled Buzzers goalie Jonathan Frattaroli with 43 shots scoring four times. They led 2-0 after one period and added two more in the third. Erik Muxlow led the Flyers offensive assault with a pair while Spencer Vandenberg and Joshua Cleary fired one goal apiece.
Sunday on home ice, Flyers drilled a shortstaffed Cobourg Cougars squad 11-0.
Gannon Hunter earned his first OJHL career shutout by turning aside 20 Cougars’ shots while Cobourg goalie Timothee Fengos was swamped by 76 Flyers’ shots.
Flyers forward Griffin Grundner ripped four gaols to pace the attack while Jak Thiessen, Landon Bernard, Erik Muxlow, Ethan walker, Spencer Vandenberg, Brayden Degelas and AP call-up Matthew Messman all tabbed one apiece. Messman’s tally was his first OJHL marker.
The wins lofted the Flyers past the Buffalo Junior Sabres into sole possession of fourth place in the Western Conference.
The Flyers will be off for Christmas break and will start their stretch drive on Sun Jan. 4 when they host the Caledon Admirals at 5:10 pm.
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