Flyers dominate Rockets by 6-2

By C. Scott Holland

With plenty of lineup changes and tributes to three Flyers’ volunteers who passed away recently, plus a large crowd of 611 on hand, the Leamington Flyers dominated the Strathroy Rockets 6-2.

Looking much better and certainly more comfortable on home ice than they did during their home opener, the young team asserted a 2-0 lead and never looked back despite a pair of second period tallies by the opposition.

Several moves and callups created some bewilderment for fans. Jack Cotter, who played here last year, was added to the roster on Thursday, along with Nate Dowling (#66). Out of the lineup were Koen Taves, Luca Milosevic, Braeden Burke, Kyle Greene, Connor McCracken, Nolan McKibbin and Boe Piroski. Replacing them were newcomer Nate Dowling, Ryan Cronheimer (#55) and back-up goalie Jack Van Collie.

The scoring started after a few minutes of the two teams battling for loose pucks. At 6:27, Connor MacPherson hooked a pass onto Trevor LaRue’s stick and LaRue went on a breakaway and banked his shot behind Rockets’ goalie Liam Reid.

Flyers’ vets Anthony CIaramitaro and Gabe Piccolo created a two-onone break at 13:21 and Hayden Reid tabbed his first Jr. B goal from a spot nearly identical to that of LaRue’s.

In the second, the Flyers continued their offensive assault. Hayden Reid and Cody Brekke laid the groundwork for Billy VanSumeren’s blast that bounded off Liam Reid and trickled over the goal line just past the two-minute mark.

On the heels of that tally, Ryan Clark and Connor MacPherson set up LaRue whose screen shot made it 4-0.

But at 7:23, the Rockets notched their first goal as Ethan Facchina slipped past a Flyers’ defenseman and cruised towards the net. As he came in from left to right, he deked started Bryce Walcarius and lifted a backhand into the net.

At 11:32. Brennan Faulkner made it 4-2 and the Flyers reverted back to playing tough defensively.

A five-minute major for goaltender interference and game misconduct was handed to Strathroy’s Alex Laszlo at 14:5, but the Flyers were held at bay and after 40 minutes it was 4-2 for the hometown boys.

In the early minutes of the third, Bryce Scarlett and Nick Mahy worked to put a long shot on goalie Reid, who stopped the puck, but the rebound took an odd bounce onto Adrian Bosev’s stick. Bosev was poised near the net’s left corner and converted it for a 5-2 lead.

About 25 seconds lat- er, Ryan Cronheimer unleashed a bullet from the left point that found its way into the back of the Strathroy net.

The Flyers played solid defensive hockey the rest of the way to take a 6-2 victory. The Flyers outshot the Rockets 37 to 20.

“I thought we played a good game tonight,” said head coach Dale Mitchell post-game. “We had a good start which we talked about prior to the game.”

He added, “We came out hard in the second, but we need to clean up when we are up... We have allowed teams back in the game. Overall, it was nice to see the guys have a good home game in front of a large home crowd, plus get the win for the late Jean Pepper, Jim Issell and Don Drewitt.”

Notes: Among the 611 in attendance were several former Flyers from their Jr. C days – Paul Anthony and Brian Ford. There will be no home game this coming Thursday since the team plays two weekend games at the Showcase which is being held in Pelham.

Their next game at Leamington will be on Thursday, September 29 when they host the Komoka Kings.

The team’s newest player, Nate Dowling, is 6’2”, 180 lbs., shoots right, and was born January 5, 2004 in Windsor. He was selected by the London Knights in the 13th round of the 2022 OHL Priority Draft.

Flyers’ goalie Bryce Walcarius was bowled over by Strathroy’s #20 Alex Laszlo in the second period. Here, Laszlo is being restrained by a linesman while Flyer Ryan MacPherson (8) confronts a Rockets’ player. Laszlo was handed a five minute major for goaltender interference plus a game misconduct.