Winning is for the Birds
The St. Catharines Falcons scored four unanswered goals on their way to a 7-3 victory over the Fort Erie Meteors in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Saturday night’s come-frombehind victory was the fourth in a row for the Falcons who have yet to lose to a conference opponent. Their lone loss was a 5-2 setback to the defending Midwestern Conference champion Listowel Cyclones at the Showcase tournament that opened the junior B season in Brantford.
Matt Baumann, with two goals; Jaleel Adams, Michael Davis, Lucas Smilski, Carson Eden and Zach Lawrence scored for St. Catharines which outshot Fort Erie 38-27.
Nolan Lynds, who opened the scoring 1:44 into the first period, Garrett Jennings and Drew Passero replied for the Meteors who fell to 1-4.
The Falcons finished 2-for6 on the power play; Fort Erie,
0-for-7.
Next action to for the secondplace Falcons, 5-1; is Tuesday night on the road against the Golden Horseshoe Conferenceleading Caledonia Corvairs,
5-0.
Fort Erie’s next game is Friday for a 7 p.m. puck drop with the Falcons in St. Catharines.
Blackhawks 4, Panthers 0
At Pelham, Thorold, ahead 3-0 at one point, came back to edge the Panthers as Scott Barnes coached against his former team for the first time.
Matthew Dolan, Mason Howard, Mitch Britton and ex- St. Catharines Falcon James Guest, with the game-winning goal with 9:51 remaining in the third period; scored for Thorold which won its second in a row despite being outshot 43-33 Sunday afternoon at Pelham Arena.
Chris Webber, Noah Caperchione and Jake Herrberg replied for the Panthers, who lost their third in a row to fall to 1-5 in league play.
Last season Barnes guided Pelham to a 12-34-0-4 record, a 22-point improvement from a 1-45-0-4 finish the year before. Barnes opted not to return for a second season behind the Panthers bench, deciding instead on concentrate his efforts on purchasing the Blackhawks.
He named himself head coach when the Ontario Hockey Association and the league approved the sale of the franchise.
Thorold, 2-3-1-0; hosts St. Catharines Thursday. Faceoff is set for 7:07 p.m.
Pelham is back on the ice Tuesday for a 7 p.m. start on the road versus the Buffalo Regals.
Avalanche 9, Panthers 0
At Ancaster, Liam Van Loon scored two goals and Tanner Sheppard stopped 15 shots for his first junior B shutout backstopping the Avalanche to a victory over Pelham.
The Avs, 4-1, won their fourth game in a row thanks to goals from Nicholas Breault, James Graydon, Brad Lindsay, Jeff Lindsay, Noah Romeo and Dirk Stadig.
Like St. Catharines, Avalanche has yet to lose an intraconference game.
Pelham, which was outshot 3315, lost its third in a row and fell to 1-4 heading into the Sunday matinee versus the visiting Thorold Blackhawks.
Corvairs 9, Regals 0
At Buffalo, the host Regals, the only team in the 26-team league that has yet to earn a point, was blanked for the second time this season, this time by Caledonia.
The Corvairs, 5-0; outshot 0-5 Buffalo 56-19 and received scoring from Bailey Fletcher, with three goals; Adam Craievich, Cole Mayo, two each; T.J. Hughes and Isaac Taylor.
Backstopping the defence for Caledonia was Pierce Charleson, who earned a shutout in his firstever start at the junior B level.