Home-ice advantage
Great record at home, strong play on special teams gives Canucks big edge in series with Welland
Niagara Falls Canucks owner and head coach Frank Pietrangelo can’t help but smile when he considers what the junior B hockey team has already accomplished.
Their 18-5-0-2 record at home is among the best in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference, with three of those losses against the three-time defending Sutherland Cup champion Caledonia Corvairs, and they enter the playoffs as the third seed – with home-ice advantage through the first round.
Pietrangelo was thrilled with his team’s 33-13-0-4 record in league play as the Canucks exceeded expectations while adding key players in the process.
“We were consistent throughout the season,” he said. “We played pretty good hockey for most of the year.”
“There weren’t many nights were we weren’t very good, and it’s a tribute to them bringing it every game.”
Winger Frank Pucci returned from the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds to become one of the key additions to the lineup finishing with a team-leading 62 points.
After reacquiring Pucci, Pietrangelo went out and nabbed former Quebec Major Junior Hockey League defenceman Ryan Mooney after he was released by the Moncton Wildcats. Mooney has registered 25 points in 24 games with the Canucks, including nine points over his past five contests.
Then, just before the trade deadline, Pietrangelo made a move that could very well push the Canucks over the top by acquiring former captain and Niagara Falls native Austin Wright after he played a full season of junior A hockey in Alberta last season.
Special teams have lived up to their name, with the Canucks’ 87.75-percent efficiency on the power play second to the St. Catharines Falcons in the conference and tops in the league with 63 goals.
“Our power play had the most goals in Ontario, so obviously we have proven our power play can score,” Pietrangelo said. “Our penalty kill was second overall.”
“In the playoffs special teams are a big part of it, so we want to continue to execute on both the PP and PK but we don’t want to change much.”
Two juggernauts for the Canucks on the power play has been rookie standout and the team’s leading goal scorer Harrison Cottam and team captain Andrew (Barbs) Barbeau.
“Barbs is just a terrific leader,” Pietrangelo said. “I’ve been here for seven or eight years with the Canucks and he’s been the best leader by far that we have had.”
“He does it off the ice and in the room, great with the younger guys, that’s just his leadership part.”
Barbeau netted eight goals and added 44 assists, including a teamhigh 18 power-play assists.
Not only has Barbeau done everything the coaching staff has asked of him, he’s done it at an elite level.
“I feel he’s the best – if not, one of the best – defenseman in the league, for sure,” Pietrangelo said. “On the penalty kill, power play and physical play, you name it, Barbs does it all for us.”
Cottam has quickly become a fan favourite emerging as a fierce goal scorer and a player to look out for each night. He finished the campaign with 32 goals and 30 assists for 62 points, second in rookie scoring to conference rookie of the year Ryan Miotto of Welland.
“Harry’s really developed as the season’s gone on and it’s resulted in an OHL contract with the London Knights,” Pietrangelo said. “That’s not very easy to do when you went undrafted in the OHL Priority Draft.”
“He’s worked very hard. He came up last year as an AP (affiliated player) and showed us glimpses of what kind of player he was. He has a bright future ahead of him.”
The Canucks are deep at almost every position and have had production from almost everywhere throughout the lineup. Pietrangelo believes the team has that special chemistry, and he wouldn’t be surprised if a deep playoff run comes to fruition.
“I’ve been around hockey my whole life and I think there are a lot of the intangibles that go toward being successful and winning championships, I believe this team has it,” Pietrangelo said.
“They fight for each other, play for each other and are determined when they step on the ice to be the best they can be.”
“I think this team is something special, I have told them that and I hope we can prove that in the playoffs.”
Welland is relishing the chance to play the underdog against a Canucks team that beat them five times in six meetings this season.
Leading the Jr. Canadians are captain Patrick Desjardins, the conference’s most valuable defenceman, and Miotto, the top rookie in the Golden Horseshoe.
“They’ve beaten us 5-1 in the season series this year and they are a good team,” Welland head coach Keith Osborne said. “We are going to need 60 minutes of our best hockey and, like I said, we have only beaten them once in six games.”
“We are in tough, we are the underdogs, but we will see what happens. This is why we play the games.”
Osborne and Pietrangelo have known each year since their teenage years. They have a good idea of what to expect from each other once the series gets underway.
“Welland’s a good hockey club,” Pietrangelo said. “They are very well coached.”
“I have nothing but respect for Keith, and he will have his team ready to go for sure.”
Pietrangelo, who took home coach of the year honours on the same night Miotto and Desjardins won their awards, said the Canucks can’t afford to give the two players many opportunities to make plays.
“We have to keep both players in check.”