Flyers split pair of games

By C. Scott Holland

LEAMINGTON — It was definitely a physically draining 24 hours for the Leamington Flyers last week as they played two of the top four teams in that time span.

On Wednesday, they traveled to London where they fell behind 2-0 by the end of the first and then 3-0 within the opening minutes of the second frame. But despite the Nats tabbing several screen shot goals on starter Ryan Polidori, the Flyers battled hard and notched two goals to narrow the margin.

Gavin Grundner drilled Leamington’s first tally at 13:20 and Connor MacPherson potted his 11th marker of the season at 18:13. During the final period, the Flyers had a number of good opportunities to tie the contest but just couldn’t put the puck past Nats’ netminder Aiden Berry.

On Thursday night at home, the Flyers faced rival Chatham Maroons in a quick game that featured hard hitting and fabulous goaltending.

The game went into three-on-three overtime and was eventually decided in a shootout. The Flyers won the game 3-2 thanks to two shootout tallies.

“I thought we came out pretty good Thursday after having a tough battle against London the previous night,”said head coach Dale Mitchell. “Our second period was a bit sloppy and we made some mistakes that were uncharacteristic of how we played.”

“Grundner got us a big goal late in the period to tie the game and in the third period some guys stepped up when the game was on the line,” Mitchell added.”We let them tie it late but it was a learning lesson for some of our young guys.”

The first period set the game’s tone as both teams surged back and forth and had a number of good scoring chances but Flyers’ netminder Ryan Polidori and Chatham’s Luka Dobrich kept the slate clean.

In the second stanza, both teams took one minor penalty and scored one goal apiece. At 6:52 Chatham’s Craig Spence opened the scoring.

The tension reached a boiling point and Flyer newcomer Noah Prudhomme and Chatham’sMatthew Cunningham gave the fans a taste of personal combat action as they traded five-finger pies and were subsequently ejected with fighting majors at 13: 57.

It was during the last minute of the second that the Flyers got the break they needed. Gavin Grundner drove into the Maroons’ zone and unleashed a bullet that eluded Dobrich and suddenly the contest was knotted.

In the third, Wyatt O’Neil set up Colton O’Brien who blasted a shot on net from just inside the blueline to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

However, the Maroons pressed and got the equalizer at 16:38 when Lucas Fancy cashed in. The seven minute, three-on-three overtime was as exciting as they get as both teams tried to plant the game-winner.

In the shootout, Leamington got goals from Grundner and O’Neil. Chatham did not score. Schedule: Thurs. Nov. 11 - vs Komoka 7:10 pm Sat. Nov. 13 - at Sarnia 7 pm