Flyers Down Strathroy 5-2

Posted 55 minutes ago

By C. Scott Holland

Scouts, media and fans had their eyes on both the Leamington Flyers and Strathroy Rockets last Thursday night. What they witnessed was a scrappy game with lots of turnovers and missed chances by both teams. But the end result was the Flyers getting the job done with a 5-2 victory in front of a crowd of 542.

The Flyers clung to leads of 1-0 and 2-0 before surging to 4-0 in the third. The Rockets, to their credit, fought back in the final minutes of the game to make the score respectable.

Rockets' netminder Dalen Kuchmey faced an onslaught of shots, while Flyers' counterpart Darien Ekblad halted 20 shots.

Special teams accounted for two Flyers' goals on powerplays, while the Flyers limited Strathroy to one in eight attempts.

On their first man advantage, it took the Flyers nine seconds to tab the first marker. Nicholas Nicodemo slipped a pass to Matt Ogden who rifled a shot from the top of the slot that handcuffed Kuchmey. That single goal held up through six powerplay opportunities Leamington handed the Rockets.

Late in the second, Dakota Olvin's rebound was flicked into the Rockets' net by Chris Scott and the Flyers went into the third period with a two-goal lead.

While the Flyers dominated much of the second and third, lots of scoring chances were created but they had little to show for it.

Midway into the final frame, while on a powerplay, Mitchell Amante and Nicodemo hooked passes with Alex Seguin who unleashed a bullet off the goal post and bounded into the cage.

At 11:09 Brett Babkirk and Tony Spidalieri assisted on Tyler Quigley's marker.  To read more go to www.leamingtonpostandshopper.com.