Falcons ‘still have one more gear to kick in’
Don’t be fooled by the standings or the schedule, tonight’s regular season finale is still a “something game” for the St. Catharines Falcons.
While St. Catharines is guaranteed to finish second in the the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference and assured of opening the playoffs next week against the seventh-seeded Pelham Panthers, the Falcons hope to achieve two milestones when they host the Ancaster Avalanche in a 7 p.m. faceoff at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
For starters, a victory would be the junior B team’s 10th in a row and 40th overall in league play this season. General manager Frank Girhiny said in terms of success a record of 40-7-0-3, and a winning percentage of .830, would be second only to the 43-5-0-1 mark the Falcons set in 2013-14.
“That would be our second-best season ever, and this franchise has been around since 1968, so getting 40 wins would be a big deal for us,” he said. “It’s a ‘something game,’ most definitely.”
There’s also a chance St. Catharines will end the season with the lowest goals-against average in the entire 27-team league, and not just in the nine-time conference. The Falcons lead the three-time defending Sutherland Cup champion by one goal in the race to end the campaign with the stingiest defence.
Setting a record for fewest goals allowed would be a “prestigious” honour.
“It shows we are a sound hockey team in this league,” Girhiny said.
However, a blue-chip, blue-line corps backstopped by goaltender Owen Savory, whose .928 save percentage is tops in the conference and second — by 1,000th of a percentage point — in the league, is but one ingredient in head coach Chris Johnstone’s winning recipe.
Only Caledonia, with a leaguebest 345; has more goals than the 284 St. Catharines scored this season. Lucas Smilsky, 35 goals, 58 assists; and Zach Main, 26 goals, 67 assists; are tied for second in the league in scoring with 93 points apiece, and Tanner Ferreira, 30 goals, 46 assists, 76 points; sits in the sixth heading into Friday night action.
Special teams, the third side of the triangle, is equally solid. An 89.26 per cent efficiency killing penalty and 24.67 per cent success scoring on the power play, both league bests, make the Falcons the envy of their peers heading into the playoffs.
Girhiny isn’t worried that all those eye-popping numbers may be indicative of a team that peaked too early.
“Not at all. I think we’re getting stronger,” he said. “We’re continuously striving to get better.”
“We still have one more gear to kick in.”
St. Catharines swept Pelham in head-to-head play this season, six wins to none, 12 points to one, but the Falcons aren’t about to spend the opening round of the playoffs looking past the Panthers and scouting possible semifinal opponents.
“They’re well-coached and they play in that place (Pelham Arena),” Girhiny said in giving a nod to Panthers head coach Scott Barnes for guiding a one-win team last year to double digits in victories in his first season at the helm.
“They’ve done very well this year, but what gives us the edge is our depth. We can roll four lines and our D is seven deep.”
The league’s decision to suspend the Thorold Blackhawks due to safety concerns caused by player shortages gave Caledonia a firstround bye.
Girhiny, however, isn’t worried playing a minimum of four extra games will hurt the Falcons all that much over the long run.
“I don’t think it puts us at a disadvantage,” he said. “If anything Caledonia could be a bit rusty the first two games out of the gate, but I don’t see that happening either.”
Unlike Johnstone, Frank Pietrangelo, his counterpart behind the Canucks bench, doesn’t know who Niagara Falls will open the playoffs against.
It could either be the sixth-seeded Welland Junior Canadians should the Canucks hold off Ancaster in the race to finish in third place or the No. 5 seed, the Fort Erie Meteors.
Ancaster, currently in fourth by a single point, wraps up the season on the road tonight against the Falcons, while Niagara Falls hosts Pelham tonight and visits Fort Erie the following night.
Pietrangelo said the Canucks are more focused on preparing for the playoffs than on the standings.
“We are only concerned with ourselves at this point and focusing on playing to our full potential to best prepare for the playoffs,” said Pietrangelo, the team’s owner as well its head coach.
“We control our own destiny and will approach both games this weekend the way we do every game: with expectations to win.”
Niagara Falls is 5-0 in head-tohead play with Pelham and 3-2 with Fort Erie.
Pietrangelo also isn’t worried about his team peaking too early.
“We’ve had a very good season and continued to get stronger as the season wore on.”
The 2016-17 season wraps up Sunday at Welland Arena, where the Junior Canadians host the Meteors.
Fort Erie leads the season series three wins to two.
Notes: The Golden Horseshoe Conference’s annual awards night takes place Monday at Club Roma in St. Catharines.