Captain O’Brien a steadying force for youthful Flyers heading into semis against Lincolns

by


Captain Colton O’Brien is trying to provide that veteran voice of knowledge for a young Leamington Flyers squad.

Leamington’s rise to the top of the Western Conference standings in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League came with 13 first-year players on the roster.

“He’s been fantastic,” Flyers’ head coach Dale Mitchell said of O’Brien. “He’s a guy that it’s great because you can lean on him when things aren’t going well. He’s been an amazing captain. I know the guys respect his opinion of him.”

After a first-round sweep of eighth-seeded Strathroy, the Flyers now face a far more seasoned and experience St. Marys Lincolns squad in the conference semifinals. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday at the Nature Fresh Center at 7:10 pm

“This will be more of a challenging series than the last one,” O’Brien said. “I’ve been trying to tell the guys that. It’s going to be tougher and we might have to battle some adversity.”

A 6-foot-2, 175-pound defenseman, this is the last season of junior hockey for the 20-year-old O’Brien.

“To be honest, it seems so weird,” said O’Brien, who got to play his first couple seasons with the Flyers with his older brother Bryce O’Brien. “It feels like yesterday that I was 16 and walking into Leamington for the first playoff game. It goes by so fast. I don’t want hockey to end.”

When COVID-19 shut the league down in 2019-20, O’Brien earned a spot in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Quebec Remparts, but found his way back to Leamington this season.

“(Quebec) was a great experience and I chose to comeback and wanted to play in Leamington,” O’Brien said. “I’ve got some buddies here and I’ve always loved this team. It’s a great organization.”

The Flyers actually credit the Lincolns with helping the club break out of a mid-season slump and charge to the top spot of the conference standings. After a 10-2 start, Leamington went 8-6 over the team’s next 14 games capped by a 5-1 loss in St. Marys.

“We had a good team meeting and, after that, all the boys came together,” said O’Brien, who saw his team post an 18-4 mark down the stretch. “(The Lincolns are) kind of the same team they’ve always been. They are hardnosed, play tough and the right way.”

After sweeping Strathroy, the challenge for the Flyers is to raise the level of play to another next level in hopes of reaching the league final.

“They have a pretty veteran back end and you can see why they don’t allow many goals,” Mitchell said of the Lincolns. “They’re a good defensive team with a good goalie and we have to work harder and even greasier for playoff goals. We’re not simply going to score four or five goals off of the rush.”

[email protected]

twitter.com/winstarparker



Leave a Comment