Falcons take 2-1 lead in series

The St. Catharines Falcons jumped out to a four-goal lead on their way to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Ancaster Avalanche in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff action Tuesday night.

Second-seeded St. Catharines took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Golden Horseshoe Conference semifinal despite being outshot 34-24 by No. 3 seed Ancaster.

Michael Davies and Jaleel Adams scored power-play goals, Tyler MacArthur and Dakota Miskolczi even-strength markers, and Zach Lawrence a shorthanded goal for the Falcons who rebounded from a 5-1 loss in Game 2 of the second-round series.

Getting the win in net was Owen Savory whose shutout bid was thwarted by a power-play from Benjamin Hatanaka with 8:36 remaining in the third period.

St. Catharines excelled on special teams going 2-for-7 with a man advantage and limiting Ancaster to one goal on 12 powerplay opportunities.

The home team has so far each time in the series.

Game 4 was Wednesday night at Morgan Firestone Arena in Ancaster, with the fifth game back for a 7 p.m. faceoff Friday at Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines.

Also on tap Wednesday night was the fifth game in the semifinal between the No. 1 seed Caledonia Corvairs and the fourthseeded Niagara Falls Canucks.

Caledonia was in a position to advance to the conference final for the fifth year in a row with a victory at home.

Niagara Falls staved off elimination with a 5-4 win at home Monday night.

The Corvairs swept the Canucks in head-to-head play winning the season series six games to none, 12 points to one.