As the 2026-27 home portion kicked off last Thursday night, 666 fans watched a fevered battle between the visiting Burlington Cougars and the hometown Leamington Flyers.
After grabbing a precious 1-0 lead, the Cougars knotted it in the second but the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minutes.
Leamington won the game 2-1.
There were many changes as well, not only for the volunteers and staff but for the fans too as they got a good look at the many new players on the Flyers’ roster.
During much of the game, both teams jockeyed for puck possession and positioning for quality shots. However, both teams’ defenses were tasked with effectively thwarting and limiting scoring chances.
Starting goalie Carter Vicente (Cougars) and Colten Drillen-Roach (Flyers) both turned aside some good shots. Vicente finished the night with 1:14 left and halted 35 of 37 Flyers’ shots, while Drillen-Roach stopped 20 of 21 that came his way.
Perhaps one of the stranger new items is a stoppage of play somewhere around the middle of each period for a “TV timeout.” The one-minute breather enabled both squads to catch their breaths and discuss their offensive attacks and defensive systems.
The Flyers dominated in the opening period but could only get one puck past Vicente. Leamington scored at 17:26 when vets Evan Hjelholt and Jak Thiessen hooked passes to create a left to right play that found Griffin Grundner who whisked the puck into the net.
Two early second frame penalties appeared to drain the Flyers a bit. Both were goaltender interference calls, and on the second one Burlington’s Sean Short unleashed a pass that bounded past Drillen-Roach for his lone blemish of the game.
The third period was more entertaining in which both sides matched each other in scoring chances. Despite killing two early penalty calls successfully, the drama between the Cougars and Flyers only increased as the clock ticked away. At 16:24, Jack Jovifovski slipped a pass from behind the Cougars’ net to Chase Pettipiece, who was anchored in the slot and drilled the puck past Vicente for his fifth goal of the season.
Burlington lifted Vicente for an extra attacker with 1:14 left and the Flyers’ defense did not allow them any serious cracks at tying the contest.
The Flyers will have the weekend off and will not play again until Thursday, September 17 when they host the Mississauga Chargers at 7:10 pm.
