Menace Analyst – Mikayla Guarasci
Milton Menace Preview: Menace at Leamington Flyers- November 16, 2023
The Milton Menace are hitting the road and heading to Leamington for a Thursday night battle against the Flyers. The Menace will be looking for their third straight win.
Thursday will be Milton’s first game in over a week after they had two games rescheduled. The Menace’s last game was a 6-5 overtime win over the Buffalo Jr. Sabres on November 8. On the trip to Buffalo, the Menace got down 2-0 in the first two minutes of the game, but they didn’t let themselves out of it. Graeme Macauley and Justin O’Donnell scored power play goals to tie things up at two before Buffalo scored again to end the period. The teams traded goals, with Gavin Sheehan, Sett Ursomarzo and Connor Driscoll scoring to bring the game to overtime. Macauley was the overtime hero, scoring his second of the game to win it for Milton. Glen Crandall picked up another win, making 17 stops.
The Flyers are coming into Thursday’s game off a 4-3 win on Wednesday in Buffalo. They have not lost since October 19th, when they fell 2-1 to Georgetown. Leamington is third in the West Conference and sits just one behind Milton, meaning Thursday’s game will be impactful to the standings. Leamington’s record is 14-6-3-0.
Thursday will be the third of four meetings between the Menace and the Flyers this season and the Menace’s first trip to Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre. Their first meeting ended in a tie, and four days later, they met again at the OJHL’s Governors Showcase in Buffalo, where Leamington took the game 5-4.
Milton will look to limit Leamington’s offence, as they’ve scored at least four goals against Milton in each of their previous meetings. It will be important for the Menace to play strong team defence if they want to leave Leamington with a win.
