Canucks move back into first place

Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League first-place tag: Niagara Falls Canucks, you’re it!

Visiting Niagara Falls defeated the Pelham Panthers 4-1 Sunday to move back into first place in the junior B league’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.

Their third win in a row improved the Canucks’ record to 36-6-0-1, one point ahead of the idle St. Catharines Falcons, 35-5-0-2.

Owen Holmes, with two goals, the last into an empty net; Matthew Riva, Patrick McCabe tallied for Niagara Falls, which jumped out to a 3-0 lead and outshot Pelham 43-34.

Matt Ruigrok replied for the fourth-place Panthers, 23-15-0-4.

Both teams finished 0-for-4 on the power play.

Pelham hosts the Lockport Regals Tuesday night, while Niagara Falls is off until Friday when it is home to Fort Erie.

Kilty B’s 4, Jr. Canadians 1

At Welland, T.J. Hughes scored two goals, Anthony Pinelli, Cullen Ferguson one apiece, and visiting Hamilton won its sixth in a row.

Sunday night’s victory improved the third-place Kilty B’s to 31-11-0-1 in league play.

Kellan Rosenbaum replied for the seventh-place Jr. Canadians who fell to 8-30-0-4.

Welland, which lost its 15th in a row, was outshot 36-18.

On the power play, the B’s went 1-for-5; the Jr. Canadians, 0-for-4.

Hamilton hosted the Lockport Regals, eighth, 6-34-1-0, on Monday night.

Welland visits the Fort Erie Meteors on Saturday night.

Huskies Jr. Blues 5, RiverHawks 4 OT

At Hamilton, Connor Noonan’s goal 3:36 into overtime gave the hosts the win and cut Niagara’s lead in a best-of-seven Provincial Junior Hockey League quarter-final to 2-1.

Scoring in regulation for the Blues, who outshot the R’Hawks 55-46, were Scott McLaren, with two goals; Danny Attridge and Jamieson Buck.

Josh Urbshott, with two; Jake Orr, Jacob Saddler replied for Niagara.

“I like how we battled back to tie it up, but we just came up short in OT,” RiverHawks head coach Tim Barath said. “We knew it was going to be a close series coming into it.

“We just have to keep battling and competing.”

Game 4 in the first-round series between the fourth-seeded Blues and the No. 5 seed RiverHawks is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Gale Centre in Niagara Falls.