It’s win or go home
Corvairs take 3-1 series lead; push Falcons to brink of elimination in Golden Horseshoe final
When opportunity knocked the St. Catharines Falcons found the way to the door blocked more often than not.
Officially, the Caledonia Corvairs outshot the Falcons 37-20 in a 3-1 victory to take a 3-1 lead in the bestof-seven Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Golden Horseshoe Conference final; in reality, the Falcons are on the brink of elimination thanks in large part to a Caledonia defence that has excelled in blocking shots.
Open shooting lanes were hard to find for the home team in Tuesday night’s game at Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines. Throughout the night goaltender Bradley Van Schubert received strong support from a stingy blue-line corps that baffled the Birds at every turn, especially when St. Catharines was on the power play, including a 5-on-3 at the end of the second period that spilled over into the final frame.
The Falcons finished 0-for-8 on the power play.
Caledonia head coach Mike Bullard wasn’t surprised by the all-out effort in a role that is among the least glamorous in hockey.
“No one likes to do it, let’s be honest, but we’ve got six who are going right now and you know you’ve got to pay the price to win hockey games.”
Bullard was particularly impressed with the play of Trent Mallette and Jamey Lauzon in the back-and-forth battle between the top two seeds in the junior B playoffs.
“Everything is about second effort, and it’s a tough road game and St. Catharines gave us everything they got,” he said. “It was just one of those games, no one was giving anything out.
“We made a mistake on the first goal and they made a mistake on the winning goal.”
Romeao D’Intino, who accounted for the Falcons scoring in the first game in the series won by the visiting team, said St. Catharines knew going into the conference final that the Caledonia defence would present a big, though not insurmountable, challenge.
“That’s something they’re very good at, blocking shots, but once we get past that, and not at their shin pads, then pucks should be going in the net for us.”
St. Catharines surrendered five answered goals in the third period in a 6-3 loss in Game 3, but D’Intino said the Falcons had no trouble shaking off that disappointing loss.
“Our whole motto this playoff run is ‘like ducks,’ calm on the surface, but moving our feet under the water.
“Just keep going, staying positive.”
No. 1 seed Caledonia outshot the second-seeded Falcons 11-7 in the first period.
Mallette opened the scoring for the visitors with a power-play goal 12:18 into the game. He was Johnny on the spot, just outside the left of the crease, tapping in a rebound a sprawling Falcons goaltender Owen Savory made on the previous play.
Shots favoured the Corvairs 11-7 in the second period, but again the total for the Falcons didn’t include shots blocked by the Corvairs defence.
The Falcons finally succeeded in slipping one past Van Schubert in the Caledonia net. The evenstrength marker, from inside the left faceoff circle, 3:32 into the third period, was D’Intino’s third of the playoffs.
Caledonia regained the lead six minutes later when Adam Craievich found a net that Savory left empty attempting to clear the puck between the net.
Lauzon rounded out the scoring in the game with a power-play goal into an empty net.
St. Catharines came into Tuesday night’s game with a 9-4 record in post-season play, while Caledonia, 6-1, was playing in only its eighth game of the playoffs.
After finishing the regular season second only to the Corvairs in the conference, as well as in the entire league, the Falcons swept the seventh-seeded Pelham Panthers four games to none in the opening round and defeated the No. 3 seed Niagara Falls Canucks in six games in the semifinals to return to the conference final for the fourth year in a row.
When the league and its parent body, the Ontario Hockey Association, suspended the Thorold Blackhawks with two weeks remaining in the regular season, Caledonia received a first-round bye rather than opening the playoffs against the Buffalo Regals, a one-win team over the course of the 50-game season.
Thorold was unable to put a full lineup on the ice down the stretch due to a combination of injuries and suspensions. The Blackhawks had also run out of player cards to call up affiliates.
In the semifinals Caledonia swept the No. 4 seed Ancaster Avalanche.