The Leamington Flyers season is officially over after dropping a thrilling 5-4 overtime decision to the Collingwood Blues on Friday, March 27.
The game five loss in Collingwood wrapped up the series, four games to one in favour of the Blues.
Friday’s deciding game followed last Thursday’s 3-0 shutout at the hands of the visitors in front of 1,160 fans. The Blues headed home with a 3-1 series lead and a game five match on Friday night.
On Thursday, the Flyers’ downfall occurred mostly in the opening frame as they took the contest’s first penalty and allowed the Blues to score on the ensuing man advantage. Erik Muxlow was sidelined at 3:04 on a tripping call and Blues’ forward Tate Vader one-timed a top of the slot shot that beat Flyers’ starter Tre Altiman.
If being down 1-0 wasn’t bad enough, Leamington’s offense sputtered throughout the stanza. While on a powerplay that began at 12:59, they surrendered a shorthanded goal when Brayden Stumpf and Nathan Omeri went on a two-on-one break. Omeri’s right lane shot skipped past Altiman.
The Flyers regained some composure during the second period and put 18 shots on Blues’ goalie Hagan Bach, while Altiman faced only three shots.
Bach halted all of the Flyers’ attempts, including breakaways by three of the Flyers’ best players.
In the third, the Blues played with confidence and a resolve to win. Much of the period was back and forth, but the Flyers were limited to six scoring chances while the Blues put 10 on Altiman. Trailing 2-0, head coach Dale Mitchell pulled Altiman for an extra-attacker with 2:50 left, but Stumpf’s long shot found the empty net at 17:16 and sealed the Blues’ victory.
Bach finished the shutout win with 33 saves while Altiman had 21.
Friday night at Collingwood, in a must-win situation, the Flyers jumped out to leads of 3-1 and 4-2 but gave up two mid-third period goals before falling in overtime.
Brayden Degelas scored twice for the Flyers, while singles went to Matthew Thomas and Reid Hayes.
A rare overtime powerplay allowed the Blues to score the winner with just 28 seconds left in the overtime period.
Collingwood outshot Leamington 31-28 over the course of the game.
