While most of the province has been plunged into a late winter deep freeze, things continue to heat up on the rinks around town as rep teams of the Orangeville Minor Hockey Association battle their way through both Tri-County and Ontario Minor Hockey Association play-offs.

Five local Flyer squads currently have made it past the playdown round to earn berths in the OMHA Semifinals.

Leading the pack into action, is the Flyers AA Midget team.

Kicking off their semifinal playoff at home to Tecumseh, Orangeville found themselves tied 1-1 heading into the third period of game one between these two very closely matched teams.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, a late third period goal by the Eagles put the hometown favourites behind the curve heading into game two Saturday afternoon at the Tony Rose.

With Tecumseh getting out to a 1-0 lead at the midway point of the second, it fell to goals from Jason Rodgers and Ian Smith early in the third to give Orangeville some breathing room.

A power-play insurance marker by Glen Bryan with 6:28 remaining sealed off the score sheet to give the Flyers a 3-1 win to even the series at 1-1.

These two teams met up again Sunday afternoon in Tecumseh but it was the Eagles holding on through the final seconds to record a 4-3 win.

Game four of the series is scheduled back at the Tony Rose. 9 p.m. Wednesday night. (Results unavailable at press time).

At the opposite end of the age scale, the Tyke Select Flyers wrapped up their round robin series with a hard to swallow, 7-3 loss at the hands of the Caledon Hawks.

After an exceptionally successful regular season, the Flyers ran into some hot goal tending and unlucky bounces to end up with a 4- 3-3 playoff record.

The Minor Atom AA Flyers find themselves in a difficult situation heading back to Chatham for their next game.

A close 4-3 decision at home Saturday evening followed up with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in overtime on Sunday has put the Minor Atom squad squarely behind the 8-ball, down by two heading into game three of their semi-final series.

Tied at two games a piece, the Novice AE team will be banking on home ice advantage to give them the edge when they meet up with the Georgetown Raiders on Saturday afternoon.

This series has see-sawed back and forth with the two clubs swapping wins at home and on the road.

The opening face-off for game five is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at the Tony Rose.

Finally, Orangeville's Peewee AA squad have earned a few days off.

The Flyers swept their series against the Ancaster Avalanche in three straight, posting scores of 3-2, 3-0 and a 3-2 overtime win in game three to advance to the OMHA Peewee AA Finals to be held after the March break.