Flyers, Vipers kick off Super Series

By C. Scott Holland

In what has been labelled as the Essex County Super Series, the Leamington Flyers and LaSalle Vipers kicked off an eight-game series at Leamington on Sunday afternoon.

The intensity and high level of competition were evident between the cross-county rivals. But one aspect was very noticeable - there were absolutely no fans present because of safety reasons related to COVID-19.

Throughout the match both sides displayed their skill and the defenses and goaltending were sharp. However, Leamington’s netminding and defense was fine-tuned as they won a 2-0 thriller that went right to the game’s end.

The play was rather chippy at times and in the first period, Leamington gave LaSalle two golden opportunities to go ahead first via powerplays. But neither one generated any scoring.

Third period play was hotly contested in the Flyers’ 2-0 victory over the Lasalle Vipers on Sunday. Here, the Flyers defence tries to interrupt the cycle of the Vipers forwards.

The Vipers gave the Flyers one chance towards the frame’s conclusion but after 20 minutes it was a scoreless draw.

The Flyers drew first blood in the second, when captain Dylan Weston shovelled the puck forward to Josh Cyrenne, who went in close on Viper starter Matthew Srbocca and potted the goal at 1:57.

With the Flyers’ Colton O’Brien and Vipers’ Cayden Faust both serving two minute misconducts, Weston initiated a forward pass to Cyrenne who found Thomas Michaud open and Michaud went in alone and drilled the puck past Sbrocca at 7:52 for a 2-0 edge.

It was all the Flyers would need to seal the victory although the Flyers certainly gave the Vipers a couple of chances in the final frame. At 6:34 the Vipers thought they had scored but the refs waved it off.

For about two minutes in the third, Flyers goalie Chazz Nixon, who had gone in midway through the contest, left for some some equipment attention and starter Ryan Polidori was re-inserted and held the door closed to the fort.

Both Polidori and Nixon combined to earn the combined shutout by making 30 saves while LaSalle’s two goalies — Sbrocca and Kyle Metson — turned aside 29.