FSJ Senior Flyers aren’t discouraged by preseason losses

FORT ST. JOHN, BC – The Fort St. John Senior Flyers suffered two preseason losses to the Dawson Creek Senior Canucks over the weekend, but according to Flyers’ head coach Andrew Leriger, the “young and new” team is excited for the regular season to begin. 

“We’re a completely new team from what we were four years ago, we’ve lost two-thirds of our whole core, everything is new, and getting used to what this league is all about,” said Leriger.

“It’s exciting  because we have ten young, former Huskies that are all coming out to play, and they’re all impactful players.” 

Thursday’s game in Dawson Creek was a close call, with the experienced Canucks coming out on top, winning the game 4-3. 

Both Leriger and Flyers’ president, Paul van Nostrand were impressed with the team’s performance during Thursday’s game. 

“Thursday was a relatively tight game,” said Leriger. 

“We played better than I anticipated.”

Saturday’s home game at North Peace Arena was more of a difficult loss. 

“Saturday was a tough day at the office,” said van Nostrand.

“It was a home crowd. Lots of guys playing in front of family and friends, and I’m sure that creates nervous tendencies.”

Leriger said Saturday’s game “exposed the Flyers’ weakness,” and they now know what to work on in preparation for the upcoming regular season. 

“We narrowed it down, and we’re just working on systems,” said Leriger.

 “Our training camp was literally five practices. We’ve never worked on powerplay or penalty killing until this week. So, this is what we have to fine-tune as we start going into the season.”

The Fort St. John Senior Flyers hit the road to Alberta to face off against the Spirit River Rangers this Saturday in their first game of the regular season. 

The puck drops at 8:30 p.m.