Canucks are back in control
Falls leads St. Kitts by one point with three games to go
Forget about the calendar and the remaining games on the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League regular-season schedule. Playoffs are already underway in the junior B league’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Barring first- and secondround upsets or a deep playoff run by the Hamilton Kilty B’s, the Niagara Falls Canucks will play the St. Catharines Falcons in the final and the right to represent the conference in the Sutherland Cup tournament.
A preview of that much-anticipated matchup was played Monday in Niagara Falls, where the Canucks skated to a 4-2 victory before an announced crowd of
712 at Gale Centre.
Owner-head coach Frank Pietrangelo liked the way the Canucks clogged up the neutral zone against the Falcons.
“We didn’t let them get a lot of speed and limited their scoring opportunities, which is important, and we capitalized on ours.”
He wasn’t surprised by the level of intensity when the top two clubs in the 25-team league played each other.
“We knew it was going to be this type of game, it’s been like that all year,” Pietrangelo said. “Two good hockey teams and we’re happy we got the win.”
He didn’t regard the game as a playoff preview despite the hoopla heading into the game.
“We didn’t look at it like that, we look at it as we’re trying to win first place right now in the Golden Horseshoe Conference and overall in the GOJHL,” he said.
“We still have three more games, but we couldn’t do it without today, so we knew the importance of today’s game.”
Niagara Falls won two of three games versus St. Catharines at Gale Centre.
“We want home-ice advantage if we can get it,” Pietrangelo said. “I think everybody wants to be first place.”
After hosting the Pelham Panthers Friday night, the Canucks close out the season on the road against the Lockport Regals, Welland Jr. Canadians. None of those games, he warned, is a guaranteed two points.
“I learned a long time ago that if you’re not prepared to play, you’re going to lose,” Pietrangelo said. “We need to focus on one thing right now, and that’s Friday night.”
Niagara Falls wrapped up head-to-head play versus St. Catharines with four victories to two and overtook the Falcons for first place in the hotly contested conference.
Falcons head coach Frank Girhiny suggested each period was a game within a game, with the Canucks winning the first, the second “pretty much even” and the Falcons taking the third.
“I thought we had a really good third period,” he said. “They scored on a broken play, and good for them, but all in all they probably deserved the win more than we did tonight.”
Girhiny liked his team’s resiliency in the game.
“We’re down 2-0 after the first,” he said. “I thought we had a really good second period, and that just carried onto the third period.
“We scored two goals, made it 2-2, then we have a breakdown, and they score.”
Mitch Mendonca, with two goals; Matthew Riva and Patrick McCabe scored for the Canucks
‘‘ “I learned a long time ago that if you’re not prepared to play, you’re going to lose.” FRANK PIETRANGELO Niagara Falls Canucks owner-head coach
who improved to 38-6-0-1 moving one point ahead of St. Catharines, 37-6-0-2.
Joseph Colasurdo and Christian Girhiny replied for the Falcons who were outshot 23-21.
Niagara Falls finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play; St. Catharines, 0-for-7.
On Tuesday night the Lockport Regals, eighth, 7-36-0-1; hosted the Falcons in a “home game” at Jack Gatecliff Arena in
St. Catharines.
League play for the Falcons wraps up with a home game Friday against Hamilton and on the road Sunday versus Pelham.
Blackhawks 6, Meteors 1
At Fort Erie, Trevor Neumann scored two goals and collected four points overall leading Thorold to its first win in five games.
Jonathan Balah, Nick Gidney and Evan Miller each netted a goal for the Blackhawks, fifth, 19-22-1-4.
Anthony Gigliotti replied the sixth-place Meteors, 12-30-0-4.
Thorold outshot Fort Erie 43-32.
Kilty B’s 2, Panthers 0
At Hamilton, Cal Schell recorded the second shutout of his junior B career backstopping the hosts past Pelham. Mark Duarte and Holden Rogers scored for Kilty B’s, third, 34-110-1. Pelham, fourth, 25-15-0-5; was outshot 32-26.
Neither team excelled with a man advantage: the B’s finished 1-for-9 on the power play; the Panthers, 0-for-8.