Meteors hand Canucks another loss
‘‘ “I could tell our players knew they would win the game. That was evident as well outplayed them in the first period.” ETHAN MOREAU Fort Erie Meteors head coach
An Olympic-size ice surface in the main rink at Fort Erie Leisureplex is the largest in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.
It is large enough to give strong skating teams an advantage and make slower teams regret not spending more time improving their conditioning.
On the weekend, it was large enough to swallow a 19-point disparity between the host Meteors, the seventh-place team in the nine-conference, and the Niagara Falls Canucks, the first.
Fort Erie’s 5-4 victory in double overtime may have stunned fans, but it was not surprising to Meteors head coach Ethan Moreau. He saw a confident crew hit the ice for Round 3 in junior B hockey’s Battle of the Niagara Parkway. “I could tell our players knew they would win the game,” he said. “That was evident as well outplayed them in the first period.”
Shots on goal in the opening frame were 15-9 in favour of Fort Erie.
While the Canucks outshot their hosts 34-15 the rest of the way, the Meteors were 3:02 away from winning the game in regulation.
“Our speed and pace was equal or better than them throughout the game,” Moreau said. “Our goalie (Ethan Cook), who has been out with injury for a month, was very good.”
It was the Canuck’s second loss in as many nights and first of the season against the Meteors. They suffered a 3-1 setback at home at the night before to the Pelham Panthers.
Niagara Falls owner-head coach Frank Pietrangelo said playing on the large ice at the Leisureplex poses a challenge for visiting teams.
“It’s the biggest surface in our league, and you definitely have to adjust the way you play there,” he said.
Compounding the problem for the Canucks is a lack of turnaround time as Niagara Falls’ home games are Fridays and Fort Erie’s the following night.
“Playing Friday night home games and then going to play on the big ice in Fort Erie on Saturday nites is never easy,” Pietrangelo said. “We have dropped points there over the years.”
Evan Miller scored 4:24 into
the second — and final — overtime to give the Meteors their second win in a row.
Brady Lee, Alex McTeer, even strength; Logan Warner and Luca Mazzo, power play; found the back of the net in regulation for Fort Erie, which improved to 4-10-0-1.
Dillon Hill scored two goals, Ben Evans and Matthew Riva one each for the Canucks, who outshot their hosts 43-30.
It wasn’t the first time the Meteors have more than held their own against a team well ahead of them in the standings. They are four seconds away from shutting out the second-place Hamilton Kilty B’s when play in a game suspended by a power blackout resumes.
Fort Erie was leading 1-0 and a faceoff was about to take place in the Hamilton end when a wind storm knocked out power for much of the town.
Niagara Falls earned a consolation point for the first time this season falling to 14-2-0-1 in league play.
Niagara Falls opened the season series against Fort Erie winning 9-2 at home and 7-1 at home.
Fort Erie went 2-for-8 on the power play; Niagara Falls, 0for-3.
Lone game on the Golden Horseshoe schedule last night had the Meteors visiting the Welland Jr. Canadians, 4-10-0-0.
Results were unavailable at press time, but a summary is posted online at stcatharinesstandard.ca, niagarafallsreview.ca and wellandtribune.ca.
Next action for the Canucks is a 7 p.m. home game Friday against the Thorold Blackhawks.
Panthers 3, Canucks 1
At Niagara Falls, visiting Pelham scored three unanswered goals between whistles and tripled the Canucks for their second in a row.
Thomas Young, with two goals; and Chris Webber scored for the Panthers, 11-6-0-1.
Patrick McCabe opened the scoring for Niagara Falls which outshot Pelham by a 32-23 margin.
The two teams combined for 114 minutes in penalties on 30 infractions. Pelham went 2-for-9 on the power play; Niagara Falls, 0-for-9.
Falcons 6, Blackhawks 3
At Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines, Christian Girhiny netted a hat trick and the host Falcons doubled Thorold to return to the win column and extend their point streak to 11 games.
Rounding out the scoring for St. Catharines were Jacob Roach, with two goals, and Carson Edwardson.
Bailey Stumpo, Brendan Chartlon and Sam Vander Zalm scored for the Blackhawks, who were outshot 35-17.
The Falcons were 2-for-4 on the power play; the Blackhawks, 1-for-4.
St. Catharines improved to 11-3-0-1 moving within one point of idle Hamilton, 12-4, for second place in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Fifth-place Thorold fell to 5-9-1-0 and lost for the second time this season to the Falcons.
Girhiny, who started the season in the Ontario Hockey League as an over-ager with the Erie Otters, has eight goals and two assists in four games with St. Catharines.