Canucks gain ground in GOJHL conference
Shutout win over B’s moves Falls three points ahead of Avs in the race to finish in third place
Zach Moore made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season, and the sixth of his junior B hockey career, and the visiting Niagara Falls Canucks blanked the Welland Junior Canadians 3-0.
Andrew Barbeau, Harrison Cottam, Justin Kyle and Ryan Mooney each score a goal as the Canucks won their third in a row.
With the win, Niagara Falls improved to 29-13-0-4 in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference, and moved three points ahead of the idle Ancaster Avalanche, 27-13-0-5; in the race to enter the playoffs as the third seed. Ancaster has a game in hand. Niagara Falls outshot Welland 4523 and went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Junior Canadians finished the game 0-for-6 with a man advantage.
Moore lowered his goals-against average to 2.30 while increasing his save percentage to .917. Along with Adam Dentico, the 19-yearold St. Catharines native is part of a 1-2 punch between the pipes for the Canucks, a team owned by onetime NHL goaltender Frank Pietrangelo.
“Our goaltenders have more or less split the regular-season games to date,” said Pietrangelo, who also is the Canucks head coach.
“We know whoever plays on any given night is going to give us a chance to win that game.
“That was evident all season long and I don’t expect that to change in the playoffs. We feel very confident with either Adam or Zach between the pipes.”
Dentico also has three shutouts to his credit this season. His goalsagainst average is 2.74 and his save percentage .898.
The loss was Welland’s second in as many nights. Adam Craievich, with two goals; Zachary Core, Brandon Lindberg, Trent Mallette and Ryan Punkari helped lead the Caledonia Corvairs to a 6-4 victory over the B’s Saturday.
Drew Nesbitt, with two, Nicholas Boehmer and Bradley Boudreau replied for Welland which was outshot 47-12 in the road loss.
Suspensions attributed to the Junior Canadians’ woes on the weekend. Ryan Miotto, Matt Martin, Patrick Desjardins and Ryan Donovan, the team’s top four scorers were out of the lineup serving suspensions, as was playmaking defenceman Nathan Ellis.
“You take five of the top guys out of any lineup and your team is going to struggle,” head coach Keith Osborne said.
Only Miotto was back for Sunday night’s game, with Donovan, Ellis and Martin eligible to return for a road game tonight against the Pelham Panthers.
The suspensions were handed out following a brawl that took place after the final buzzer Sun. Feb. 5 in a home game against the Ancaster Avalanche. Desjardins, the team’s captain, received a four-game suspension and won’t be back until next Sunday night when the B’s host the St. Catharines Falcons.
Sunday night’s game before an announced crowd of 277 at Welland Arena was a possible playoff preview, as the Junior Canadians failed to keep pace with the Fort Erie Meteors in the race to finish the regular season in fifth place.
Welland’s third straight loss dropped the team’s record to 20-240-2, two points behind the 22-23-0-0 Meteors who have a game in hand.
The Canucks would face the Junior Canadians and the Avalanche would play the Meteors if post-season play were to open today.
Welland’s next game is Tuesday on the road against the Pelham Panthers. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.
Niagara Falls returns to the ice Friday night for a home game against the Junior Canadians.
Falcons 2, Avalanche 1
At Ancaster, Tanner Ferreira and Riley McCourt each scored a goal and St. Catharines doubled the Avalanche Saturday night to extend its winning streak to six games.
Zach Lawrence scored for Ancaster.
St. Catharines is scheduled to play the Thorold Blackhawks Friday for 7 p.m. faceoff at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
Whether that game, or any game involving the Blackhawks, is played depends on how the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) intends to deal with the team’s inability to field a full lineup.
Thorold home games against the Buffalo Regals, Saturday night; and versus Caledonia, Thursday night; were postponed and the Canucks were awarded two points for a forfeit when the Blackhawks were unable to field a team for a road game Friday night.
Repeated messages left with the OHA were not returned as of press time.
Meteors 7, Regals 1
At Fort Erie, a Battle of the Border Saturday night ended with two streaks intact.
The host Meteors won their third straight, while Buffalo lost its 11th consecutive game.
Bryan Zurowski, with a hat trick; Mike Masotti, two goals; Jesse Burger and Dakota Miskolczi scored for Fort Erie.
Christian Buczek opened the scoring with a power-play goal for the Regals.
Buffalo was outshot 64-25 and went 1-for-10 on the power play. The Meteors converted two of their five opportunities to score with a man advantage.