It looked as though the season was coming to an end for the Leamington Flyers. They trailed Hamilton 2-0 midway through the third and chances weren't bountiful. "That first period wasn't acceptable." said head coach Dale Mitchell. "We ended up coming out more aggressive. We switched our system up a bit."
It took until the midway point of the third period for things to fall into place and that's when the tide turned quickly. Ryan Clark was credited with a bound off the back board at the 10:21 mark cutting the Kilty B's lead in half.
Owen Holmes then took a pass from Ryan MacPherson and one-timed it to tie the game. MacPherson capped off a three goal flurry with a snipe from the top of the left circle on the powerplay.
Before they knew it the Kilty B's season was on the line after the Flyers scored three goals in 3:15. "We just needed that one bounce. We got that one bounce we needed and I think it sparked confidence in the guys." Michell said. "Maybe we were too timid and sat back too much. That's a learning experience for myself. We went back to what we know works and why we got there."
The comeback brought Michell back to the 2009 Memorial Cup. The Windsor Spitfires trailed the Rimouski Oceanic 4-2 in the third. Michell scored three goals in a span of 3:33 to lift the Spits to a 5-4 victory to eliminate the host team from the tournament. "I did think about it for a second. I wouldn't expect one player to do it but I knew if you get one, the cliche is two goal leads are dangerous. Three goals in three minutes. That's special.
Gabe Piccolo scored a pair of empty netters to seal the deal as Leamington wins 5-2 to advance to the Sutherland Cup final beginning Friday in Stratford. Game 2 will be in Leamington Sunday at 5:10pm.
"Two good teams that play similar style hockey. We've won there. They've won in our arena. Both teams have shown they can win on the other team's ice so it's gonna be a fun, exciting series. We'll allow for a couple of days for the guys to enjoy this and back to work Wednesday.
Check out the comeback. Source: HockeyTV.
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