Canucks, Falcons, Panthers win at home

The Niagara Falls Canucks and the St. Catharines Falcons were the happiest of hosts in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference Friday night.

Niagara Falls defeated the Welland Jr. Canadians 7-2, and

St. Catharines topped the Fort Erie Meteors 5-3.

Ben Evans and Mitch Mendonca each scored twice and Dillon Hill collected five assists as the Canucks extended a season-long winning streak to nine games.

Niagara Falls’ consistency on offence is what has most impressed Frank Pietrangelo, the team’s owner and head coach.

Scoring goals is never easy, but our power play has been lights out, our first line has been very consistent, and we’ve had different players step up every game to give the necessary support to win games,” he said.

At this point in the season the Canucks aren’t overly concerned with the standings.

“It’s early in the season, we focus on the game at hand and

take care of business, each and every night,” he said. “We know if we do this, we will be very tough to beat, game in and game out.”

Harrison Cottam, David D’Agostino and Justin Randhawa also scored for Niagara Falls which outshot Welland 40-20.Jarett Olbruck and Cody Wall replied for the Jr. Canadians.On the power play, Niagara Falls went 2-for-2; Welland, 1-for-5.

The Canucks are home to the Lockport Regals 7 p.m. Friday at Gale Centre.

At Jack Gatecliff Arena, host St. Catharines broke a three-all stalemate with two answered goals in the final 1:02 of regulation.

The Falcons moved one game above .500, to 4-3, thanks to goals from Gage Stepheny, Noah Perlic, shorthanded; Dakota Miskolczi, power play; Jaleel Adams and team captain Kyle West, empty net. Marco Lariccia, Evan Miller, both on the power play; and Noah Bourdon found the back of the net for the Meteors. Shots on goal were 36-17 in favour of St. Catharines.

The Falcons went 1-for-2 on the power play, the Meteors were 2-for-6 with a man advantage.

St. Catharines hosts the Hamilton Kilty B’s at 7 p.m. Friday.

Panthers 3, Regals 0

At Pelham, Nicholas Kidd made 21 saves for the first shutout of his junior B career and the host Panthers beat Lockport for the third time in as many starts this season.

Pelham won its third straight and improved to 8-1 thanks to goals from even-strength goals from Noah Caperchione, Eli Palfreyman and an empty-nettor from Mike Butterfield. Neither team scored on the power play. The Panthers finished Sunday afternoon’s game 0-for-7 with a man advantage; the Regals, 0for-8.

Lockport, which fell to 0-8 and is the only team in the 25-team league that has to earn a point, was outshot 46-21.

Pelham won for the second time in less than 24 hours. Adam Scholz, Brodie Thoms, Chris Webber, with two each; Dylan Bigger and Jared Hill netted goals on the road in an 8-1 victory over the Fort Erie Meteors the night before. Alex McAteer replied for the Meteors who fell to 1-7-0-1.

Fort Erie was outshot 39-15 and went 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Panthers were 2-for-5 with a man advantage.

Both teams are back in action with road games Thursday. Pelham visits the 2-6 Thorold Blackhawks, Fort Erie is at the 7-1 Hamilton Kilty B’s.

Kilty B’s 8,

Jr. Canadians 5

At Welland, T.J. Hughes and Lucas Thompson each scored twice, and Hamilton won its seventh in a row after opening the season with a loss.

Rounding out the scoring the rebranded Ancaster Avalanche were Noah Bollert, formerly with the Jr. Canadians, Tanner Brennecke, Luke Croucher and Joshua Houston.

Matt Baumann, Quinn Chevers, Kellan Rosenbaum, Jacob Thomason and Mario Zitella tallied for Welland, 2-6.

Shots on net in Sunday night’s game were 40-27 in favour of the visitors, with the Kilty B’s and Jr. Canadians 0-for-3 and 2-for-6 on the power play, respectively.

Welland visits the Lockport Regals for a 7 o’clock. puck drop Wednesday night in western New York.