Flyers drop two, then get back into series

By C. Scott Holland

LEAMINGTON — Winning games in the second round has become a hard chore for the Leamington Flyers.

And as Yogi Berra once said, “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.”

In game one of their best of seven semi-final series against the St. Marys Lincolns, an innocent shot on net turned out to be bad news as the Flyers lost that contest 2-1. Then on Friday night in St. Marys, a 3-2 third period lead slipped away and the Lincs won it 4-3 late in the first overtime.

But Sunday’s game here finally saw the Flyers play a better brand of hockey as they held on to edge the feisty Lincolns 5-4 with 605 fans in attendance.

“We played a pretty good game Thursday,” said head coach Dale Mitchell. “We know they’re a pretty structured and defensive team. But it comes down to turnovers and doing all the little things right. We need to get at the net more and not be such a perimeter hockey team.”

On Thursday the Lincolns looked hungrier than the Flyers after they had beaten the LaSalle Vipers in seven games. St. Marys struck first at 3:58 of the opening period when Joe Mazur slotted the go-ahead goal. It was a tough battle for most of the next 36 minutes as their goalie Bryce Walcarius turned aside 15 shots in the first then another eight in the second before the Flyers evened the score.

Near the seven minute mark of the second, a Lincolns goal was negated because the net’s moorings were off. What had appeared to be a goal was caused by an uncharacteristic giveaway by the Flyers near their net.

Flyers forward Colin MacPherson tries to help a teammate in action here Sunday versus St. Marys.

Scott Holland photo

At 16:49, Gabe Piccolo and Andrew Uturo hooked up with Noah Prudhomme who gunned a screen shot from the left lane. Prudhomme’s shot eluded Bryce Walcarius and after plenty of hard work the contest was tied.

The Flyers pounded another 16 shots at Walcarius in the third but could not reap a go-ahead goal. At 17:28, with the Lincs entering the Flyers’ zone along the right side boards, Noah Vandebbrink unleashed a high flip shot that was more like a knuckleball than anything else. The puck landed in front of starter Ryan Polidori and skipped past him to put the Lincs ahead 2-1. During the final eight seconds, Polidori was lifted for an extra attacker but it was to no avail as the Flyers could not get the equalizer.

“Friday we came out well,” Mitchell said. “We really responded after Thursday’s loss. In the second period we were flat and took stupid penalties. We showed no desperation or urgency.”

Friday night in St. Marys ,Ryan MacPherson’s goal at 13:31 of the first put the Flyers ahead 1-0. But in the second, Leamington took four penalties and allowed two powerplay goals.

Down 2-1 in the third, Wyatt O’Neil evened the score before Andrew Uturo put them ahead 3-2. But uncharacteristically, the Flyers allowed the Lincs to tie it late.

A Flyers two-on-one break was thwarted in OT not long before the Lincs jammed a loose puck past Ryan Polidori to get the win.

Sunday here, for the first 30 minutes it was the Flyers’ Gavin Grundner who shone. During that span he notched a natural hattrick and, along with the rest of the team, did not stop working hard until they had won it 5-4. Also scoring for the Flyers were Anthony Ciaramitaro and Kale Couvillon.

Boe Piroski got the win by halting 20 of 24 shots.

Game 4 was being played Tuesday in St. Marys.

Schedule: Thurs. Game 5 - St. Marys at Leamington 7:10 pm; Fri. Apr. 29 at St. Marys 7:30 pm (if necessary); Sun. May 1 - 2:10 pm vs St. Marys (if necessary).