Falcons seek 13th straight victory
For the St. Catharines Falcons, the expression “Friday, the 13th” doesn’t conjure up feelings of dread or the need to be ever vigilant and avoid black cats.
At least not today it doesn’t. That’s because a victory over the Pelham Panthers tonight at Jack Gatecliff Arena would be the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s team’s 13th in a row.
Their last loss in league play was Dec. 13 when they suffered a 5-2 setback on the road to Caledonia Corvairs.
Don’t let the won-loss record of their opponent in the 7 p.m. faceoff fool you. While the seventhplace Panthers are 14-25-1-3, they are the closest thing to Kryptonite the 33-7-1-2 Falcons have had to handle this season.
Two of their losses in regulation have been against Pelham. St. Catharines’ other three-period setbacks have been to Caledonia, two; the Ancaster Avalanche, Niagara Falls Canucks and the Listowel Cyclone, one each.
The Falcons lead the season series versus the Panthers three wins to two, and they can clinch the series if they earn at least a point tonight.
In the GOJHL, teams play conference opponents six times during the regular season. Two games against non-conference opponents at a league showcase held at the beginning of the season round out the 50-game schedule.
The winning streak is currently the longest in the junior B loop and second-longest this season. The standard of 18 was set by the fourtime defending Golden Horseshoe Conference champion Corvairs between Nov. 11 and Jan. 21.
First-place Caledonia, 37-4-01; took a far more modest winning streak — four games — into a road game last night against the Thorold Blackhawks.
Thorold, fifth in the nine-team conference with a 19-18-3-3 record, came into last night’s action trailing the Corvairs in head-to-head play 0-4.
The other game on Thursday night’s Golden Horseshoe schedule had the eighth-place Fort Erie Meteors, 9-29-1-5; visiting thirdplace Ancaster, 31-10-1-1.
The Canucks, who doubled the Buffalo Regals 4-2 on the road Tuesday, will be seeking their fourth win in a row when they return to the ice Friday night hosting Thorold.
Fourth-place Niagara Falls, 2911-0-4; lead the Blackhawks in the season series three wins to two, seven points to four.
Niagara Falls, with 54; and Buffalo, 52; combined for more than 100 shots on net, according to a scoresheet posted on the league’s website.
Noah Boman netted two evenstrength goals and Frank Pucci and Justin Kyle one power-play marker each as the Canucks swept the league’s only U.S. team six wins to none.
Tyler Kallay and Nash Braun replied for the cellar-dwelling Regals, who fell to 1-39-0-3, lost their 14th straight and failed to earn more than one point for the 26th game in a row.
Next action for the sixth-place Welland Jr. Canadians, 15-23-3-2; is Saturday in Caledonia and home to Niagara Falls the following night.
Welland is 0-5 against the Corvairs and 0-3-0-1 versus the Canucks in league play this season.
Pucci leads the conference, and the league, in scoring with 37 goals and 40 assists. Two points behind is Jack Scanlan of the Stratford Warriors, 24 goals, 51 assists.
Caledonia’s Jesse Barwell, with 16 goals, 55 assists; St. Catharines’ Lucas Smilsky, 25 goals, 40 assists; and Caledonia’s Sean O’Brien, 23 goals, 38 assists; are fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in league scoring.
The four goaltenders with the lowest goals-against average all play in the Golden Horseshoe: Pierce Charleson, Caledonia, 1.75; Owen Savory, St. Catharines, 1.89; Brandon McCorriston, Caledonia, 1.92; Ryan Dugas, Ancaster, 2.07.
Savory leads the league in victories, with 27; shutouts, five; as well as save percentage, .940.