The Orangeville Junior A Flyers played back to back home games on the weekend taking a loss then redeeming the schedule with a win the following day.

After playing four games in five days over the holidays the squad was back for another tough week on the ice playing three games in as many days over the weekend.

They started off with a big 10-3 road game win over the Milton IceHawks on Friday, January 8, in Milton.

After opening the game with four unanswered goals in the first period the Flyers kept up the pressure and finished off the game winning the third period 6-3 to claim the victory.

Returning to the Alder Street arena on Saturday (Jan. 9) night, the Flyers hosted the Whitby Fury.

After playing to a 1-1 tie in the first period the Flyers went ahead in the second frame but it was a short lived lead when the Fury scored three unanswered goals in the space of five minutes to lead the game 4-2 going into the third.

The game ended with a final Whitby goal late in the period to make it a 5-2 finish.

On paper, the two teams were pretty evenly matched going on to the ice and it showed in a game that was a back and forth effort effort – the Flyers just couldn’t bury the puck.

“We always come strong, we’re always ready to play a good game. Tonight just really got the best of us,” Said Flyers forward Kosta Likourezos. “I thought we had a very strong first period. We’ve just got to battle back from the bounces. We had some really good chances. It was just one of those games where a flick of the puck or a bad bounce (made the difference).”

The squad a tough schedule over the holidays playing four games over five days, but they lost three of those games which dropped them down in the standings.

“We’ve been playing really well. We have a great team here and the character is very strong in the room. All the leaders are very good. When it’s tough, all the leaders try and step up for the rookies and we talk about all the positives in the game and how we can bring the game to
the next level,” Likourezos said.

The second game of the weekend saw year an a-half, so getting him back into the flow of things was important. There’s a lot of ‘bigger picture’ things at play here. We’re progressing in the right direction and playing together as a five man unit sticking to our championship system.”

Thomas made no excuses for the fourth quarter loss citing the fact that the London team was providing some serious competition for the entire game.

“It’s a couple things. We called a time out and we said it didn’t feel like a ten point lead. It kind of felt like they (London) were right there the whole time,” He said. “Because of injuries we’re trying to integrate a lot of different people into our system. It’s just about putting two halves together – four quarters.”

The win brings the A’s record to 2-2 for the season.

The Orangeville A’s will get a night for payback when they again host the London Lightning on their home court at the Athlete Institute on Saturday, January 16.

Game time is 7:00 p.m.