The Leamington Flyers won a pair of games last week to keep pace in the tough Western Conference of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The locals topped the Niagara Falls Canucks 4-1 at home on Thursday, January 8 and followed that up with a 6-1 win in Georgetown on Saturday.
Thursday’s hometown fireworks kicked off at 4:47 of the first period when Erik Muxlow’s blast bounded off Canucks’ starter Dylan Bourque’s pads. Ethan Walker was quick to get his stick on it and stuffed it into the net.
The Flyers’ second tally came at 7:51 while on a powerplay. Adrian Bosev assessed his teammates’ positions and launched a feed to Landon Pickersgill, whose one-timer from the slot found the back of the cage.
At 12:09, Leamington rang the Canucks’ doorbell again as Bernard and Bosev connected passes with Reid Hayes, who unleashed a left lane bullet and froze Bourque.
The Flyers outshot the Canucks 17-3 in the opening stanza.
The Canucks came out in the second with some fire and caused some havoc in the Flyers’ zone. Leamington took two penalties at 1:39, which allowed the visitors to notch a five-on-three goal, their lone goal of the contest.
The game’s closeness turned the third period into a back-and-forth series of rushes with few prolonged attacks. The difference was the defense, which allowed only five shots on net in the third, allowing Gannon Hunter to halt 18 of 19 to get the win.
The Canucks lifted Bourque with a minute left in the game, but Leamington’s Bernard took a Brayden Degelas pass and ripped a right wing shot into the vacated net to secure the victory.
Bourque ended his night stopping 38 of 41 shots.
Against Georgetown on Saturday night, Flyers newcomer Vincent Gazquez saw his first action with the team. Leamington led 2-0 then 4-0, with the lone Raiders’ tally coming on a powerplay in the first minute of the third. Josh Cleary led the Flyers with a pair of goals, while Bosev, Brendan Cooke, Jak Thiessen and Ashton Darocy gunned one apiece. Tre Altiman stopped 21 of 22 shots to gain the victory.
In the last week the Flyers have made some moves as they traded forward Santiago Jimenes to the Chatham Maroons and added journeyman defenseman Tyler McGuire, who had played for the Flyers in 2024-25. They also picked up forward Gazquez from the Lindsay Muskies.
Another signing is a familiar name. Wheatley native and defenceman Matthew Thomas recently played for three teams in British Columbia and played for the Flyers in 2023-24.
In a couple of other deals, defenceman Preston Otting was dealt to the Trenton Golden Hawks for a player development fee. Matthew Crawford was dealt to the Chatham Maroons.
Flyers’ goalie Tre Altiman was named the OJHL’s goalie of month for December. He was 4-0 with a 0.75 GAA and a .976 save percentage. Over those four games, he had two shutouts.
The Flyers host the first-place Toronto Patriots Thursday, January 15 at 7:10 pm.
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