The Leamington Flyers will host their Essex-County rivals from LaSalle in the GOJHL Western Conference semi-finals. The best-of-seven series begins Thursday at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre.
The Vipers had the upperhand during the regular season series winning four of the six meetings. "Our six meetings this season were all exciting." said Leamington head coach Dale Mitchell. "Unfortunately coming on the wrong end of some, we hope we use it as a learning lesson now."
The Flyers beat the Vipers 6-1 in their last meeting on January 19th. That was the only game not decided by one goal. "If the series follows what we saw between the two teams during the regular season it's going to be fun to watch and fun to be a part of." said Vipers' head coach Matt Beaudoin.
Leamington swept Sarnia in the first round and had time to watch LaSalle mount back to back third period comebacks in the final two games of their first round series against Chatham. "LaSalle is never out of a game and we saw that from our season series and their series vs Chatham. They have a good team and are well coached. It will be a battle and I know the guys will be ready."
A year ago, LaSalle was riddled with injuries during their first round exit. This season they are healthy and had twelve different goal scorers in five games against the Maroons. "We are excited for the opportunity." Beaudoin said. "We know we have to be at our best to win at this time of the year. This rivalry has a habit of bringing it out of both sides."