Flyers Turn Close Contest Into Rout of Vipers

By C. Scott Holland

LEAMINGTON — The battle of Essex County concluded its Leamington portion last Thursday night as the LaSalle Vipers made their third visit to the Nature Fresh Farms Complex.

With the Vipers regular goaltending duo not available, Wheatley Sharks call-up Ethan Carlone got the nod in net on this occasion.

Carlone held his team in the game for two frames before the Flyers tabbed four unanswered third-period goals to win the contest 8-3 in front of a crowd of 357.

By the game’s completion, Carlone had turned side 32 of 40 shots, while Flyers’ netminder Ryan Polidori halted 51.

The game itself was actually much closer than the final score indicated and head coach Dale Mitchell confirmed that in his post-game thoughts.

“Even though it was an 8-3 game, it was pretty tight for 45-50 minutes. We knew LaSalle was going to come out hard and challenge us. But we took advantage of a few of their mistakes in the first and capitalized on them,” he said.

“In the second period we got into some penalty trouble — myself included — and gave LaSalle opportunities to get back into the game, yet Ryan Polidori made some huge saves for us to keep the lead for us,” added Mitchell.

During that second period, Polidori stopped 21 Vipers’ attempts. It was the most saves by a Flyers’ goalie during a single period in quite a few years. Near the midway juncture of the opening period, Luka Milosevic and Connor MacPherson hooked passes to Gavin Grundner, who flicked a shot while falling and sliding on the ice to Carlone’s right side to score.

The Flyers made it a 2-0 contest on a two-onone break with Grundner feeding Connor MacPherson, who fired the goal from the right lane.

At 7:36 of the second, the Flyers expanded their lead to 3-0 when Colton O’Brien batted a loose puck past Carlone during a goalmouth scramble. However, the feisty Vipers fought back as Noah Morneau slotted a powerplay goal.

That goal gave the Vipers a bit of momentum and at 16:44 Morneau pegged a bullet shot into the top corner to make it a close 3-2 game.

What turned out to be the eventual game-winning goal occurred with nine seconds left in the period as O’Brien and Noah Prudhomme connected with Wyatt O’Neil, who ripped a right wing cannon shot that gave the Flyers a 4-2 margin.

Flyers’ goalie Ryan Polidori smothers a Vipers scoring attempt as Flyers Luka Milosevic (66) and Gabe Piccolo (98) are ready to help keep the Viper attackers at bay.

Scott Holland Photo

A skirmish behind the Vipers’ net at the end of the second resulted in La- Salle taking two roughing minors to Leamington’s one.

On the ensuing powerplay, Andrew Utero and Ryan MacPherson laid the groundwork for Gabe Piccolo, who pounced on a rebound and riveted it into the top of the Vipers’ net.

The Vipers bounced back 30 seconds later when Stephane Crevier drilled a shot high over Polidori’s glove.

That goal was all the Flyers and Polidori would allow them to tab as they shut down the Vipers the rest of the way.

Two quick goals coming at 13:14 and 13:56 put the game completely out of the Vipers’ reach

Jack Cotter got in on the scoring action and Wyatt O’Neil jammed one in close.

O’Neil completed his hattrick at 17:24 when he went in alone and slipped the rubber behind Carlone. Schedule: Thursday, December 2 versus London at 7:10 pm.

Saturday, December 4 in Chatham at 2 pm.