A large and extremely noisy crowd of 890 watched the Leamington Flyers tangle with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres in game one of their second round series Friday night, March 21, at Highbury Canco arena.Â
The game featured plenty of heated action, nail-biting plays plus a cacophony of horns, chants and cheers. The result when the final buzzer sounded was a 2-1 win for the Flyers and a hard-fought 1-0 series lead.
Both goalies were outstanding, though Buffalo’s Anthony Alessi faced more shots as he halted 37 of 39 that came his way while Flyers starter Marcus Vandenberg stopped 28 of 29.
Initially it looked as though the Flyers would dominate the game as most of the opening minutes were spent inside the Buffalo zone. But as the Jr. Sabres began chipping away, the game turned into a see-saw battle.
Only five minor penalties were whistled by referees Drew Ramsden and Brandon Flood.
Brody Cook took a left to right lane pass and drilled it past Alessi at 1:43 to open the scoring.
At the outset of the second, the Flyers’ offensive attack was much like the one they held at the game’s beginning. Michael Denney and Ethan Walker tried to score on a loose puck scramble around Alessi before Brayden Degelas collected the third rebound and tucked it into the open right side to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres’ Jaden Flora narrowed the gap to 2-1 five minutes later as his right lane blast handcuffed Vandenberg. The Flyers had 12 shots on net in the middle frame compared to the six they allowed the Sabres.
The third period turned into a back-and-forth contest with both sides trying to notch the next goal. Both goalies were kept busy handling shots as Leamington had 15 to Buffalo’s 12.
Buffalo lifted Alessi for an extra attacker with 1:17 left in the third, but the Flyers’ defense kept the Sabres’ offensive attack at bay and had one empty-net attempt bounce off a post.
Leamington leads the best-of-seven second round series 1-0 with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday, March 25 in Buffalo.
Game 3 will be at Leamington Thursday, March 27 at 7:10 pm. Game 4 is Friday, March 28 at Buffalo at 7 pm, and Game 5, if necessary, here on Sunday, March 30 at 7:10 pm.
