Sutherland Cup final pits rivals Corvairs, Falcons

It will be a battle of f amiliar foes when the Caledonia Corvairs and St. Catharines Falcons open the Sutherland Cup final Wednesday evening. Each team is hoping to come away as the provincial Junior B champion.

Wednesday night’s game will be the twelfth meeting of the season between the two clubs, something Corvairs defenceman Chance Macdonald says adds a new dimension of competitiveness.

“We have played these guys so many times this season that it’s become the best rivalry in Ontario hockey,” Macdonald said. “There’s definitely a competitive hatred on the ice.”

The teams played six times during the regular season, with the Corvairs winning four games and the Falcons winning two. Caledonia continued its dominance when the two teams met in the Golden Horseshoe Conference final, taking the series in five games. The Falcons are looking at the Sutherland Cup final as a shot at redemption.

“This is huge,” said St. Catharines forward Brennan Feasey. “The hockey gods have given us a second chance to beat Caledonia. We had our chance in the finals of our (conference) and it didn’t go that well. All five games we played against them (in the finals) could have gone either way.”

The role of underdog is something that the Falcons players are embracing.

“With them putting us out in the Golden Horseshoe and also (winning) the regularseason series, there’s definitely some extra motivation there. We can’t take it too lightly. We have to go in there prepared and ready to go and have a good series,” said Falcons goaltender Knick Dawe.

Dawe says that, ultimately, the Corvairs’ victory over the Falcons in the conference final came down to a little bit of puck luck. Three of the five games were decided by a single goal.

“I don’t think any of our guys would say that we got any bounces that series. They got quite a few favourable bounces. We might have had some here and there but, for the most part, we were pretty unlucky on the bounces and a couple of those cost us some goals”

Corvairs forward Connor Murphy led the Golden Horseshoe Conference in scoring. He says Caledonia has to be mindful of the motivated Falcons squad.

“They’re definitely going to have that extra fire in their belly for a little bit of revenge against us, but we just can’t get too caught up in anything, and have to make sure we play just like we have been playing all playoffs.

“We’ve had a great run so far with a great team effort all the way through, but we just have to make sure that we don’t change anything. It’s going to be a tough series, it’s going to be a hard battle, but we’ve just got to make sure that we stick to our game plan.”

The Falcons will look to neutralize the Corvairs’ potent one-two offensive punch of Murphy and Cody Brown. Dawe says that, though shutting down Murphy is a key to the series, they can’t forget about the rest of the Corvairs

“No doubt, you have to take extra caution with Murphy out there. He’s a great player who has good speed and knows how to find the back of the net. We definitely have to pay a little extra attention to him, but we still have to watch out for the other three lines on the team,” he said.

Dawe added that the Falcons are happy with who they are facing in the final, as all season has been leading up to this epic showdown.

“If you’d asked most guys in the dressing room, we’re happy to be playing Caledonia. Whenever you want to win a championship, you want to play against the best team, just so no one has any doubts. You always want to beat the best team and be the best.”

The Falcons came away champions the last time these two teams met in the Sutherland Cup final, in 2012 when the Corvairs were still located in Brantford playing as the Eagles.

Now that they’re in Caledonia, Macdonald says the Corvairs players have a secret source of inspiration.

“Most of us drive by Sutherland Street on the way to the arena every day. I’m not sure if there’s any historical significance to the street name, but the Corvairs are pretty special to the town of Caledonia. Sometimes we joke about it being a sign that the (Sutherland) Cup belongs in Caledonia.”

For Falcons forward Yanni Rallis, the Sutherland Cup is a chance for him to cap off his junior career in the best way possible. Special to The Hamilton Spectator