Photo Courtesy - Mike Hensen, London Free Press

GOJHL Bill Weir Championship Series

The stage has been set for the Bill Weir Championship series between the top-seeded Leamington Flyers and the second-seeded London Nationals.

Despite leading the Western Conference for a majority of the season, the Nationals slowed down in the second half of the season, going 11-6 in their final 17 games. The Flyers lost just twice in the same stretch of games, and were firing on all cylinders, splitting the two games they played with London in the process.

The Flyers dropped their opening game of the playoffs to the eighth-seeded Strathroy Rockets but proceeded to win four straight to advance to the second round. They were caught by a red-hot Komoka Kings team, who went up 3-1 on them in the series. The Flyers managed to fight off elimination in three straight games, giving up just one goal in those games to steal the series back in seven games. Leamington has been led by Dylan Weston who has 13 points (6g, 7a) in the 13 playoff games. He recorded five points in the final two games of the Komoka series. The Flyers’ anchor throughout the second half of the season and into the playoffs has been their goaltender, Zach Borgiel. He has started all 13 playoff games and has amassed a stingy 1.66 GAA and a .938 save percentage. During the regular season, he had a 2.25 GAA and a .924 save percentage—the third-best save percentage and fourth best goals against of any goaltender in the entire GOJHL.

The Nationals have had a fairly unhindered path to the conference final, taking both of their first two series in five games. They took care of the St. Thomas Stars in the first round, outscoring their opponent 23-12. The LaSalle Vipers started their second round series off strong against the Nats, taking their first game on home ice to tie the series at 1-1. London then put it in another gear though, scoring 15 goals over their next three games to send them to yet another Western Conference Final. The Nats have been led by James Turner who has 12 goals and 4 assists in 11 games played in the post-season after recording 20 goals in the regular season. Between the pipes for the Nats is Zach Springer, who in 11 playoff games has a 1.99 GAA and a .919 save percentage.

Game #1 of the Bill Weir Championship series went on Thursday evening in Leamington, and saw the Nationals come away with a 4-1 win. The Nationals put 43 shots on net in the game and scored four unanswered goals in the second and third period. Noah Tooke had a goal and an assist with Springer making 27 out of 28 shots in the cage.  
Game #2 of the series will be played back in London on Saturday evening at the Western Fair Sports Centre, with Game #3 going on Sunday back in Leamington. Game #4 will be played in London on Wednesday, April 3^rd.