FERGUS — Mike Fleming yelped as he bent sideways over the Forest Heights Trojans bench.
His coach, Trevor Francis, reached under his captain’s padding and jammed Fleming’s right shoulder back into its socket.
So began Wednesday’s Central Western Ontario high school hockey final, a painful 5-2 loss to the Orangeville Bears at the Centre Wellington Sportsplex, for Kitchener’s Trojans.
“First shift, I went to hit a guy,” Fleming said.
“He turtled. I went awkwardly over on it. I came out. Popped it back in. Took some Tylenol and got back out there.”
Fleming’s agony could barely be heard over the drill-bit screeches of a construction crew renovating the dressing room behind the Trojans bench. It was the same ruckus that drowned out the pre-game speech from Francis.
Fleming’s shoulder has bothered him all season, which ended Wednesday as the Bears advance to the provincials.
After leaving the regional final early, Fleming paced behind the Trojans bench in his full gear and skates.
During the second period, the skates were replaced by sneakers.
Come the third, Fleming was back on the ice, setting up a goal by Cole Chessell and pulling Forest Heights within 3-2.
The Bears, who got two goals from both Dustin Burns and Sagat Datar, promptly restored their two-goal lead.
Fleming, who scored in the Trojans’ 5-1 semifinal win over the Centre Dufferin Royals earlier Wednesday, wasn’t able to pull Forest Heights even his wonky shoulder.
“He’s a tough kid,” Francis said of his last-year captain.
“He just came to the bench, asked me to put it back in.”
Two periods later, the pain-killers had taken effect and Fleming was back in the game.
“This is my fifth year and my last game,” Fleming said.
“I had to give it my all. I had to get out there with my team.”
Fleming’s younger brother Ryan also scored against Centre Dufferin.
Chessell, Troy Peters and Brody Grugg also had goals.
The Trojans’ Blair Witmer also scored against Orangeville, which defeated Kitchener Grand River 2-0 in the semifinals.
jhicks@therecord.com
