Maddux Rychel scored twice as the Leamington Flyers beat the Sarnia Legionnaires 5-2 Sunday at the Kinsmen Centre.
The Flyers now have 40 points in the GOJHL Western Conference standings and are in second place. The Legionnaires are in fifth place with 35 points.
The game was scoreless until the latter half of the first period, when Leamington's Cody Schneider scored on the power play at 13:48. The Legionnaires tied it up over a minute later with a goal from Matt Stoia. The Flyers put up a 2-1 lead 20 seconds before intermission when Maddux Rychel lit the lamp.
Some early signs of tension came within the first minute of the game, when the Legionnaires' Jon Sanderson was sent off for charging Flyers goalie Noah Hedrick, who started the game but was replaced with Connor Meyerink near the start of the second period.
Rychel struck again at that time to extend Leamington's lead to 3-1. Brock Perry responded on the one-man advantage for Sarnia, but Leamington went up by two goals again when Josh Pope-Ferguson found the net. After two periods, the score favoured the Flyers 4-2. A giant brawl broke out in the frame, with Perry getting a game misconduct for Sarnia, and Leamington's O'Briens, Colton and Bryce, also getting early showers.
The Flyers continued to find the net in the third period when Griffin Robinson scored at 2:45.
Hedrick and Meyerink got a combined 23 saves for Leamington. Will Barber had 32 saves in the Legionnaires' losing effort.
Leamington goes to London Wednesday night to take on the Nationals, while Sarnia hosts those same Nationals Thursday.
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Josh Talerico scored a hat trick as the Amherstburg Integrity Admirals beat the Blades 7-2 in Blenheim.
The Addys now have sole possession of third place in the PJHL Stobbs Division with 36 points. This is just three points behind division co-leaders Essex and Lakeshore.
The Blades are tied for seventh place with 19 points. It was Blenheim's first game since a coaching change was announced earlier this week.
Caleb Paquette got things started for the Addys with a goal at 2:40 in the opening period. Talerico's first goal of the night was on the power play a little later in the frame, giving Amherstburg a 2-0 lead.
Talerico picked up where he left off in the middle frame, scoring his second goal at 2:26. The Blades then got on the board with a power goal tally from Bryce Broad. The Admirals jumped ahead by a goal again when Travis Campbell lit the lamp, then Drew Marlatt's goal later in the period pulled Blenheim within one again, for a 4-2 Amherstburg lead after 40 minutes of play.
It was all Amherstburg in the third period as they scored three unanswered goals. Campbell scored his second of the game unassisted at 4:35. Talerico's power play goal at the stanza's midpoint completed his hat trick. Dylan Muzzatti scored the final goal with 1:10 left in the game.
Ben Larder got the win in goal for the Addys, with 30 saves out of 32 attempts. Eric Stewardson had 33 saves for the Blades.
Blenheim heads to Lakeshore Friday night while Amherstburg hosts rival Essex Saturday.
