The Hythe Mustangs proved to be good competition for the Flyers on Saturday night.
The Flyers won the game 5-2, but it was one of the closer games Fort St. John has played this year.
The Mustangs showed up with a full bench, and ready to play, which was exactly what the Flyers and their fans at the NPA had been hoping for. While the Mustangs may have been outskilled, they have matched any team in the league for work ethic all year long, and that alone was enough to make for a good game to watch.
The Flyers opened the scoring, with a Brett Loney powerplay point shot, that went over the net, off the end boards, back of the top of the net, and then off the Mustangs goalie and in. Late in the first, Lane Latendre evened the score, with a goal generated by some good offensive pressure from Hythe.
Like it has been all season long, the Flyers made their bread in the second period. This night, they would get only two goals in the middle frame, scored by Kip Noble, and Paul Wiens (on a breakaway beautifully set up by Kip Noble).
Clayton Bahm extended the lead to 3 goals early in the third, capitalizing on a two-man advantage by firing home a loose puck at the side of the set, to make the game 4-1. Soon after, Bahm’s linemate Jeff Shipton got into the action, not with a goal, but a fight with Hythe’s Justin Paul. Ian Munro also got his hands dirty, flipping the mitts with Dustin Oakford.
The Mustangs refused to back down, and it seemed like a Lane Latendre goal (his second) might make a game of it. But soon after, Kip Noble fed Jeff Fast on a long outlet pass, and Fast showed great patience to wait for Noble to catch up, and fed him for Noble’s second of the game, to seal it for the Flyers.
The game ended 5-2 FSJ, with the shots 32-24 in favour of the home team. The Flyers went 3-8 on the powerplay, and will look forward to another game against Hythe, on Tuesday January 13th in Hythe – live on Moose FM.
The Flyers have one game on the first weekend in January, in Valleyview, and then will take the following weekend off from NPHL hockey, for another exhibition series with the Stony Plain Eagles, in Dawson Creek (Jan !0th & 11th)
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