Miscues hurt Falcons on road

Caledonia scores goals on three giveaways to take 2-1 lead in series

Bailey Fletcher netted a natural hat trick and the Caledonia Corvairs scored five unanswered goals in the third period to double the visiting St. Catharines Falcons 6-3 in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff action Sunday night.

No. 1 seed Caledonia outshot second-seeded St. Catharines 32-25 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Golden Horseshoe Conference final. Action resumes in a 7 p.m. puck drop Tuesday at Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines.

Sunday night’s game in the much-anticipated series between the winningest teams in the junior B league didn’t require overtime, but, once again, it was the home team coming out on top.

“We didn’t come out as us in the third,” Falcons head coach Chris Johnstone said after the disappointing loss. “We succumbed to their tenacity, we succumbed to their pressure.”

“It was uncharacteristic of our team, but we will learn from it and get it back together for the next game.”

Caledonia outshot St. Catharines 14-8 in the first period, but the Falcons were the first to get on the scoreboard. Lucas Smilsky’s powerplay marker 12:07 into the game was his seventh goal of the playoffs.

Eddie Schulz, the hero for the Corvairs in the series opener with the game-winning goal in the third overtime period, tied the score at one-all early in the middle frame, also on the power play.

The teams were playing at even strength when St. Catharines went up 2-1 on Matt Marinier’s first goal of post-season play.

Smilsky’s second goal of the night rounded out the scoring in the second period to give the Falcons at two-goal leading into the break.

Shots on net in the second period were 11-7 in favour of St. Catharines.

Caledonia wasted little time cutting the Falcons’ largest lead of the series in half. Only 39 seconds has elapsed into the third period when Trent Mallette found the back of the net with an even-strength goal.

It was a tie game less than two minutes later when Bailey Fletcher began a three-goal run for a natural hat trick.

Mallette’s second of the night put the hosts ahead by three to complete the comeback and clinch the win.

St. Catharines was no match for Caledonia’s intensity over the final 20 minutes of play.

“We had a great 40 minutes, take a 3-1 lead into the third, but they came at us hard,” Johnstone said. “They came at us hard physically. We had three terrible give-aways in the period, and every one of them resulted in goals.”

Caledonia’s strong start to the third period shifted the momentum back to the Corvairs’ side of the ice, where it remained for the rest of the game.

“We’re strong for 40, then to have them strike so quickly on plays we normally make, or should make, really deflated us.”

Johnstone gave credit to the Corvairs for the come-frombehind victory.

“Hats off to them, they came at us hard,” he said. “We just didn’t respond very well.

“We’re not going to sugar coat this. We let our guard down, and when you do that against a team like this, you pay the ultimate price.”

In other playoff action Sunday, the No. 3 seed London Nationals blanked the fourth-seeded Leamington Flyers to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference final, while the second-seeded Elmira Sugar Kings edged the top seed Listowel Cyclones 3-2 to lead the Midwestern final 2-0.

Last season London made it all the way to the league championship before losing four straight to Caledonia. bfranke@postmedia.com