The Flyers bid to repeat as winners of La Coupe fell just short Monday night, as the upstart Sabres upset the defending champs 5-4 to win the YAHL League Championship in front of a capacity crowd at Crescent Gymnasium in Toronto.
Team Captain David Gluck scored twice for the Sabres – including the eventual Game-Winning Goal – leading his team to their franchise’s first-ever YAHL title. Michael Hazan, Kevin Plenner and Andrew Wayne also scored for the Sabres, while goaltender Matt Maldoff was solid between the pipes, making 24 saves in the victory.
Tied 2-2 at halftime, the #1 seeded Flyers, who entered the game as a slight favourite over the 2nd seeded Sabres, were forced to play catch-up for the majority of the 2nd half after the Sabres built separate two-goal leads of 4-2 and 5-3. The Flyers applied tremendous pressure late – leading to Larry Davidson’s goal, which cut the lead to 5-4 with under 6 minutes to play. But it proved to be a case of too little, too late – as that would be as close as the defending champs would get to tying the game.
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I told you to watch out for those upstart Sabres. Tsk Tsk Flyers, shame on you for taking them lightly. I guess you’ll listen to good ol’ RedWings83 next time won’t you?