Last Thursday night’s battle of titans between the unbeaten Leamington Flyers and Collingwood Blues turned into a game that was more than a win to decide which team would remain undefeated. It was another showdown between two clubs who have shown fans their excellence in goaltending, plus excellent defensive and offensive work over the course of their past meetings.
The Flyers grabbed a 2-0 win and made a superb defensive stand for the victory.
On Sunday, September 27, the Flyers’ bubble burst like a balloon struck by a pin as Caledon stunned the Flyers with their first loss — a 4-3 decision.
“It was a great effort to pull out that win against Collingwood,” said head coach Dale MItchell, “They’re a tough team. Unfortunately we just didn’t have it for the game against Caledon and couldn’t find our rhythm. We’re looking to bounce back.”
Thursday’s game was a rather clean contest as both sides took three minors and no extra-man goals were tabbed.
With five minutes gone in the first, the Flyers’ Erik Muxlow had the first good scoring chance but came away with nothing to account for the move. But Muxlow made up for it at 7:02 when Brody Brown hooked up with Brendan Coke who made a speedy left to right feed to Muxlow who snapped a right side shot that eluded Blues’ starter Owen Edwards.
That 1-0 lead held up for 45 minutes.
Throughout the contest, the Blues fired shot after shot from many angles, yet Colton Drillen-Roach halted every puck that came his way.
After an injury delay to one of the Collingwood players in the third, Leamington finished off the scoring at 12:23 when Ashton Darocy and Griffin Grundner sent Jak Thiessen on a left lane breakaway and Thiessen drilled it past Edwards.
On Sunday in Caledon, Leamington took a 1-0 late first period lead on Griffin Grundner’s shot from the left of the crease. But the Admirals’ offense responded with two second period goals for a slim 2-1 lead.
An unfortunate tripping penalty early in the third ended with Caledon notching their third goal and just before an Admirals penalty expired Caledon used a breakaway to add their second shorthanded tally of the game.
Grundner tapped in his second of the game on a play similar to his first goal and in the final minutes the Flyers lifted Tomas Kniaziew for an extra attacker and Jack Josifovski scored.
Leamington did everything they could in the last two minutes but could not score the equalizer. Kniaziew faced 44 shots in the loss while the Flyers put 37 on Caledon goalie Justin Young.
This Thurs. Oct. 1 the Flyers look to get back on track as they host the Buffalo Jr. Sabres at 7:10 pm.
