Senior Flyers Return With Big Home Win

Judging by the scoreboard, one would never assume the Fort St. John Flyers hadn’t played a game in over a month. Friday evening, Fort St. John returned from a month long break from NPHL hockey, beginning a home-and-home series with the Horse Lake Chiefs. Friday, the Flyers started off that series with an 8-2 home win, out-shooting Horse Lake 36-30.

The game began with Fort St. John scoring the opening goal. At 4:50 into the game, Rick Cleaver netted the first score after receiving the puck in the slot and slipping it past the Horse Lake starting goaltender, Cory McEachran. With assists going to Todd Alexander and Chris Stevens, the goal was only the beginning of a very productive game for the Flyers’ line.
 
With two minutes left in the opening frame, Aaron Schepers had the puck along the Chiefs goal line. Schepers spotted Mat Alexander back door, completing the pass to Alexander, who scored the second and final goal of the period. Alexander’s goal sent the Flyers into the second period with a 2-0 lead.
 
Along with the two goals, the first period was also littered with penalties. The chippy game produced 18 minutes of penalties in the first period alone, with both teams executing successful penalty kills. Neither team was able to score with the man advantage in the first period.   
 
The second period began with Horse Lake cutting into the Flyers lead. At 6:21, Chiefs’ Morgan Maclean and Andrew Derton started off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play, which was finished off by Jesse Dudas.
 
With the score reading 2-1, Flyers Jeff Fast found himself on a partial breakaway thanks to a beautiful no look pass. After being stopped on his initial deke, Fast stuck with the play, banging home his own rebound. The goal restored the Flyers two goal lead.
 
The goal also raised the temperature in the North Peace Arena, as a feisty scrum ensued following the goal, which even saw a couple punches thrown by both teams.
 
The Flyers would increase their lead in the second, thanks to goals from Ian Munro, sporting the captain “C” for Friday’s game, and Gary Gladue, who unloaded a slap shot far side for a goal after a graceful end to end rush.
 
With the score at 5-1, the Chiefs would double their point total, with former Fort St. John Flyer Kip Noble scoring Horse Lake’s second goal of the game, concluding the period at 5-2.
 
However, before the end of the frame, tempers would boil over, as Aaron Schepers and Kevin Boutilier would drop the gloves, resulting in a fairly heated tilt.
 
The third period belonged to Fort St. John, more specifically three players on the roster. The line of Chris Stevens, Rick Cleaver and Todd Alexander would score three more times in the third, with Stevens scoring twice and Cleaver once. The line combined for seven points in the final frame.
 
Despite a well played game by Fort St. John, credit must also be given to their starting goaltender, Troy Hunt, who stopped 28 of the 30 shots fired his way, making timely saves throughout the game which allowed his team to build such a significant lead.
 
Following the game, Flyers head coach Darrel Leahy talked about how productive it is when the team has a full bench, like they did Friday evening, which he said is especially helpful with regards to the team’s defense. The head coach said from his perspective, the team played their “best game of the season so far.”
 
Leahy also talked about the line of Alexander, Stevens and Cleaver. He said they line played extremely well together, and noticed some strong chemistry as the game continued. The coach said he was very pleased with the way that line played througout the game, especially in the third.  
 
Fort St. John is far from done with Horse Lake. Saturday, Jan.14, the Flyers will land in enemy territory, to play the Chiefs in their arena. That game will begin at 8:30 and if unable to make the journey to Horse Lake, tune into all the live action on 100.1 Moose FM. Make sure to tune into the pre-game show, which begins 15 minutes before puck drop. 

Sean Assor

Moose FM Sports