Vipers, Flyers in tough as they move into semis
It was a rough road for the Lasalle Vipers to get to the semifinals, while the Leamington Flyers seemed to be on easy street.
In the end, both the Vipers and Flyers made it to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League for a second-straight season.
The fourth-seeded Vipers had to rally from a 3-1 series deficit with three-straight wins to eliminate the fifth-seeded Chatham Maroons in seven games.
“We took a major step in our maturity,” Vipers head coach and general manager John Nelson said. “For today or tomorrow, it’s a great life lesson and we have to keep going.”
The second-seeded Flyers swept aside the seventh-seeded Komoka Kings and allowed just two goals in four games.
“I really liked the way we played defence,” said Flyers head coach Cam Crowder.
The Vipers will face the topranked and defending championship London Nationals, while the Flyers get the third-seeded St. Marys Lincolns.
No. 4 Lasalle Vipers (25-19-1-5, 4-3) vs. No. 1 London Nationals (42-51-2)
The Vipers’ series opener is Wednesday in London against the top-seeded Nationals.
“Eventually, you have to go through great teams to win this,” said Nelson, whose team will host Game 2 on Friday. “We have to focus on ourselves and doing things the right way.”
The Vipers got some big performances in the first round. Goalie Matthew Sbrocca played the final five games after Sami Molu was suspended. Molu won’t be eligible to return until Game 2.
The 17-year-old Sbrocca posted a 2.90 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in the first round.
“Nine out of 10 periods were excellent,” Nelson said of Sbrocca, who had to leave Game 7 with a lower-body injury. “He gave our team a lot of confidence.”
So did captain Jack Bowler, who had seven goals and 11 points in seven games.
“We know Jack can perform, but the biggest area is he held teammates accountable and was doing his job,” Nelson said.
He added that accountability was the biggest factor that helped turn the series around against Chatham.
“Our message to guys is we matured a lot as a team,” Nelson said. “They really focused on holding each other accountable. Our bench was great and encouraging and holding each other accountable. A lot of big steps and it’s something we’ve been pushing. We want to keep playing hockey with that accountability.”
That will be crucial against a London team that beat Lasalle in all six regular-season meetings.
“They like to play an east-west game and we can’t be puck watching,” Nelson said.
“We need guys communicating on the ice and helping each other out.”
No. 2 Leamington Flyers (38-9-1-2, 4-0-0) vs. No. 3 St. Marys Lincolns (30-13-3-4)
Crowder is not getting too caught up in the sweep of Komoka after the club needed to rally from a 3-1 deficit against the Kings a year ago.
“The name’s the same, but the teams are a lot different,” Crowder said. “They had some high-end players move on and we’re older. We’ve got a big test ahead of us.”
The best-of-seven series opens Thursday in Leamington and Crowder believes this St. Marys team is a lot like Leamington’s squad a year ago.
“They’ve taken a big leap in the standings the last couple years,” Crowder said. “A real solid defensive team and it almost looks like they try to model after what we’re doing. They’re very defensive. They remind me of what our team was last year.”
Ryan Polidori had two shutouts and Matthew Waite the other in the first round and with the potential of back-to-back games on three occasions in this series, Crowder wants to keep his tandem fresh.
“They’ll play one and we’ll split up and stay fresh,” Crowder said.
Leamington hopes to have veteran forward Dylan Weston back at some point in the series, but depth at forward remains a team strength.
“We just have to continue to understand what the playoffs are all about,” said Crowder, whose team went 3-2-1 against the Lincolns in the regular season. “Our group has to continue to learn how to play in the playoffs.”