Buffalo’s in Leamington, Milton travelling to Collingwood
Ron Valentine is profiling the four quarter-final series in the Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Today: The West Conference
Both series kick off tonight with games in Leamington and Collingwood
BY RON VALENTINE
West Conference semifinals
LEAMINGTON FLYERS (1) vs BUFFALO JR. SABRES (4)
Regular season record: Leamington won 5-1, 3-1, and 4-1, Buffalo won 8-4 at home. To arrive in the second round the Flyers beat the Niagara Falls Canucks in four games, twice by 4-1 counts in Leamington and by scores of 4-2 and 5-4 in overtime in The Falls. The Jr. Sabres beat the Toronto Patriots in six games, winning the final one in overtime. The home team won the first three games, the visitors the last three.
Last season, the first in the OJHL for the Flyers, they finished third in the 12-team Western Conference. In the playoffs they got past Georgetown and Milton, losing only one game in the process, before falling in four straight to Collingwood.
The Jr. Sabres have made the playoffs for nine straight seasons. In the past the franchise has been known as the Niagara Scenic and Buffalo Lightning.
Powerplay percentage record: Leamington 23.1%, Buffalo 14.8%
Penalty killing: Leamington 100%, Buffalo 75%
Top 5 pointgetters – Leamington (4 games played)
Michael Denney 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points
Colton Smith 4-3-7
Brayden Degelas 4-1-5 (including 2 game-winning goals)
Ethan Walker 1-4-5
Brody Cook 2-2-4
Goalie- Marcus Vandenburg GAA 2.00, .929 save %
Top 5 pointgetters- Buffalo (6 games played)
Cameron Doran 7 goals, 1 assist, 8 points
Brett Kazmierski 1-6-7
Jaden Flora 3-2-5
Josh Przystal 3-2-5
Michael Kull 1-4-5
Goalies- Anthony Alessi GAA 2,45, 1 shutout, save % .932, Dylan Grover 4.29 GAA.
As well as Flora, captain Dylan McFadden, blueliner Adam Power and forwards Tyler Isherwood and Matthew Lee are Canadian-born members of the team. Doran had seven game-winners in the regular season. It’s a 390 km trip between the Sabres’ LECOM Harborcenter arena and the Nature Fresh Farms Centre in Leamington.
Quotable quotes:
Leamington
Flyers’ head coach Dale Mitchell: “Buffalo plays a strong, structured game and competes hard in all areas of the ice. (Coach) Sean Wallace has done a good job with them this season, especially down the stretch. We need to stick to the habits that have made us successful all year and we have to stay disciplined both emotionally and structurally. It will be an exciting series.”
Leamington forward Griffin Grundner, who was a member of the Flyers’ 2022-23 Jr. B Sutherland Cup winning team along with brother Gavin, Adrian Bosev and blueliners Nick Mahy and Anthony Ciaramitaro: “The Sabres are a hardworking team that plays well in their own end and doesn’t give up too much to the opposition. We will get their best. We’ve had a good week of rest and practice and I have confidence in our team to come ready every night.”
Captain Bosev added: “We just have to work harder than the Sabres all over the ice. We cannot take our foot off the gas pedal at any moment because they will capitalize. The travel is an obvious obstacle, along with the border crossing. However, just like we have all season we are not going to worry about that but only worry about what we can control. Going from Leamington to Buffalo is like being in two different atmospheres and we need to feed off the energy and our great fan support and create our own in Buffalo.”
From Buffalo
Sabres captain, the Smithville-ON born Dylan McFadden knew it would be tough against the Patriots: “The series we just came out of was for sure a battle but we were able to get through it and into the next round. We are embracing the postseason with everyone being on board and it’s been very exciting. We expect a big challenge against the Flyers but all the boys are looking to battling together again. We will do whatever it takes to come out on top. Every player on this team contributed to our success in round one and so we have high expectations for round two and I’m confident that we are ready to step up again in this series.”
Head Coach Sean Wallace…
“The series vs Toronto was a battle each night. Our team had to be at our best as a group in order to advance. With Leamington, they have some very high-end players at each position as well as tremendous depth. We are excited for the challenge.”
Jr. Sabres broadcaster Michael Mroziak talks about the balance on the club: “We have had guys stepping up when they needed to. Defenceman Adam Power did not have a goal in the regular season but he scored two against the Patriots. Jackson Adams, another defenceman who had one in the regular season, scored what proved to be the winner in game two. Playoff hockey has a way of creating unexpected heroes.”
Power is the brother of NHL Sabre Owen Power. Adams is the son of the NHL team’s general manager, Kevyn Adams.
COLLINGWOOD BLUES (2) vs MILTON MENACE (3)
In regular season meetings between the two teams the Blues won the first three, two in October by shutouts and one in January before the clubs played to a tie in March. The Blues reached round 2 with a 4-1 series win over King while the Menace beat Burlington in the minimum 4 games.
Top 5 pointgetters- Collingwood (5 games played)
Zander Veccia 3 goals, 7 assists, 10 points (tied for 2nd overall in OHJL playoffs)
Damen Boose 5-4-9
Marcus Lougheed 2-7-9
Will Hughes 3-5-8
Daniel Markevych 3-4-7
Goalie – Noah Tegelaar GAA 2.40, .908 save %
Top 5 pointgetters – Milton (4 games played)
Graeme MacAuley 2 goals, 9 assists, 11 points (1st overall)
Madden MacDougall 6-4-10 (tied for 2nd overall)
Luke Johnston 4-5-9
Justin Dezoete 1-8-9
Ivan Fabjan 5-2-7 (including 2 game winners)
Goalie – Carter Bickle GAA 1.75, .947 save %
Powerplay percentage success record: Collingwood 48%, Milton 47.6%
Penalty killing: Collingwood 100%, Milton 88.9%.
The Blues’ line of Ottawa-born super-rookie Hughes flanked by two local products in Lougheed and Boose led the way against the Rebellion. Milton got points from 16 players in their first round win. Collingwood are defending Centennial Cup national champions while the Menace after getting past Burlington 4 games to 1 in the 2024 playoffs were upended 4-1 in the second round by the Leamington Flyers.
Quotable quotes:
Collingwood
Blues Captain Marcus Lougheeed on the matchup: “There is no doubt that Milton is a skilled and physical team. We will need to play our game the way we have been and most of all we need to capitalize on our chances.”
Blues head coach Andrew Campoli: “We knew going into the series with King it wasn’t going to be easy, as they have an extremely talented young core of players and they are well coached. The loss in Game 1 helped us refocus and tune our game into what we needed to ensure we were successful in all areas. We responded well as a team and everyone played their part in the next four games to close out the series. Milton has a very good team and all of the games we have played against them have been exciting and close. We understand the special teams battle is going to be very important so we are going to put a premium on discipline all over the ice.”
Milton
Menace head coach Dan Del Monte: “Against the Blues we just have to play our game and continue to build on the thing we have been working on in the series against the Cougars. It will be a tough series for sure. We have a ton of respect for our opponent.”
Menace captain Graeme MacAuley is not singing the Blues: “Collingwood is a fast team that likes to play a quick but structured game so we have to stick to our identity of hard work and physicality and do what we do best.”
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