Defence needs to rest
Welland Junior Canadians striving to limit shots on goal to fewer than 40 per game
Ryan Miotto netted a hat trick to take over the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s goal scoring lead, and the Welland Junior Canadians skated past the Buffalo Regals 10-3 to move into third place in the Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Ryan Donavan and Steven Farano, each with two goals; Karl Lavoie, Trevor LeDonne and Matt Martin rounded out the scoring for the host B’s in Sunday night’s junior B game at Welland Arena.
The Junior Canadians’ second win of the weekend – they blanked the Pelham Panthers 3-0 on the road Friday – improved their record to 2-0 against Buffalo and to 9-7-0-1 overall.
Heading into the week, Welland trails the 11-1-0-1 St. Catharines Falcons by four points and leads the 8-4-0-1 Niagara Falls Canucks in the standings, but St. Catharines and Niagara Falls both have four games in hand.
Junior Canadians head coach Keith Osborne said being two games above .500 a third of the way into the 50-game regular season has be considered a positive even the number of first-year players the coaching staff is trying to integrate into the team’s defencefirst system.
“It’s probably better than where I thought would be,” he said of a rookie-laden squad that remains a “work in progress.”
Osborne likes where the B’s are going, speed bumps and all.
“We’re still working hard, and still learning to play the game the proper way,” he said. “That can take time when you have a young team, and need consistency from the younger players.”
“We all need to be on the same page, but we’re getting there.”
Welland has nine to 10 forwards
I knew coming in we were going to be very young. It’s going to take a couple of months for the young guys to learn D-zone coverage.” Welland Junior Canadians head coach Keith Osborne
who can be regarded as rookies, three blue-liners in their first year competing at the junior B level as well as a freshman backup goaltender.
A one-time NHLer back for a sixth season as the B’s bench boss, Osborne isn’t surprised that players are still learning how to execute a system that emphasizes defensive-zone coverage and gives everyone a role in helping to keep the
puck out of the net.
“I knew coming in we were going to be very young,” he said. “It’s going to take a couple of months for the young guys to learn D -zone coverage.”
Practices, including video sessions, also continue to underscore the need for forwards to clear the puck up the ice in order to give team’s goaltenders a much-needed breather. The Junior Canadians, more often than not, have been outshot by their opponents so far this season.
Osborne is hoping that trend can be reversed, and he wants to making limiting shots to fewer than 40 per game a goal.
“That’s a concern for me, because (Brandon) McCorriston and (Blair) Coffin are going to get tired,” the coach said.
In Sunday’s game, Alex Huff’s power-play goal 2:10 into the second period narrowed Welland’s lead over the league’s only winless team to 2-1, but the Junior Canadians regained their cushion – and more – with eight straight goals.
Blake Bennett scored two unanswered goals for the Regals in the third period to round out the scoring as Buffalo fell to 0-15.
It was the most goals Welland has scored in a game so far this season, bettering the team’s offensive output in a 9-0 victory over Buffalo, while the Regals fell one goal short of matching the high they achieved in a 7-4 loss to the Ancaster Avalanche.
Welland outshot Buffalo 57-20 and finished 2-for-6 on the power play. The Regals were 1-for-5 scoring with a man advantage.
Blair Coffin earned the victory in net for the Junior Canadians. Kodie Oude Vashaar went the distance in goal for Buffalo and was tagged with the loss.
Miotto trails Brendan D’Agostino of the Thorold Blackhawks by six points in the league scoring race, but Miotto’s 15 goals is tops in the 27-team league. St. Catharines’ Lucas Smilsky has 14 goals, while four players are tied with 12 goals.
McCorriston earned shutout – his second of the season – versus the Panthers in what Osborne called a “hard-fought victory” to start the weekend. Welland, the coach said, didn’t look past Pelham’s 2-8 record heading into the game.
“They came out really hard,” Osborne said. “They outshot us (4428), but we just stuck with the program.”
“Brandon came up big and kept us into the game until we could score a few goals.”
Welland plays two games next weekend. A rare Saturday home game against Niagara Falls will be followed the next day by hosting Thorold on its regular night for home games.
The Junior Canadians are 0-2 against Niagara Falls and 2-0 versus Thorold in head-to-head play.
This week the Panthers play three games in as many nights, starting with a 7:07 p.m. puck drop Thursday in Thorold. They host the Fort Erie Meteors at 7:30 p.m. Friday and wrap up on of their busiest stretches of the season on the road Saturday against the threetime defending Sutherland Cup champion Caledonia Corvairs.
Pelham is 0-2 against Thorold, 0-0-0-1 versus Fort Erie and have yet to play Caledonia in league play.