The second season beginning in junior-B
Three best-of-seven quarterfinals getting underway this week
Playoffs get underway this week in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League and all but the Caledonia Corvairs will begin best-of-seven quarterfinals in the seven-team Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Caledonia has a first-round bye after finishing the regular season with a 39-9-1-1 record for a winning percentage of .800, best in the seven-team conference and tops in the 23-team junior-B league.
The No. 2 seed Fort Erie Meteors, third-seeded St. Catharines Falcons and fourth-seeded Hamilton Kilty B’s have home-ice advantage in opening-round matchups versus the Port Colborne Sailors (No. 7), Pelham Panthers (No. 6) and Welland Jr. Canadians (No. 5).
All but Hamilton dominated their first-round opponents in head-tohead play during the 50-game regular season.
St. Catharines swept Pelham seven games to none, 14 points to one, outscoring the Panthers 41-16, while Fort Erie took six of seven from Port Colborne and outscored the Sailors by a 33-11 margin.
Eighteen points separated Hamilton (24-22-4) and Welland (15-31-4) in the standings, but the Jr. Canadians defeated the Kilty B’s four games to three in head-to-head play.
Welland outscored Hamilton, the defending Golden Horseshoe playoff champions, 21-20.
League play in the conference wrapped up with two games Sunday, including a playoff preview between the Falcons and Panthers.
St. Catharines jumped out to a 4-1 lead before host Pelham scored three unanswered goals and earned a consolation point in a 5-4 overtime loss.
Treyson Dewar, with two goals, Dylan Pergentile and Noah Read scored in regulation for the Falcons who outshot Pelham 56-40. Connor Clark, Brendan Grenville, Keagan Knight and Liam Wicks replied for the Panthers.
Read scored the game-winner 6:20 into the first overtime.
Corvairs 5, Jr. Canadians 2
At Welland, visiting Caledonia went up 5-0 and scored two shorthanded goals to complete a sweep in a weekend home-and-home.
Markus Dempewolf, with two, Nathan Duplessis, Zachary Naherne and Ethan Royer scored for the Corvairs. Jeremy Alexander and Christiano Stogiannis replied for the Jr. Canadians.
On Saturday, Dempewolf, who counted four goals, Noah Baltzer, with two, and Clark Dunford scored for Caledonia in a 7-1 victory at home. Jack Ryan replied for Welland.
Post-season play also begins this week in the Midwestern and Western conferences. The Listowel Cyclones (38-9-1-2) finished first in the midwest and the London Nationals (36-11-1-2) in the west.
Here’s how teams in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference are faring so far this season:
Caledonia Corvairs
Record 39-9-1-1, 80 points, .800, first place
Streak 2 wins
Offence/defence goals for, 234; goals against, 111
Special teams power play, 20.9%; penalty kill, 91.4%
Penalties, in minutes 1,124
Scoring Jayden Lammel, 23 g, 59 a, 82 pts.; Markus Dempewolf, 36 g, 24 a, 60 pts.; Nathan Duplessis, 28 g, 32 a, 60 pts.; Steve LaForme, 10 g, 42 a, 52 pts.
Goaltending Keegan Jackson, 31 gp, 3 shu, 2.11 GAA, .925 Sv%; Davis Pen- ner, 13 gp, 3 shu, 2.15 GAA, .916 Sv%; Finn Wilson, 7 g, 1 shu, 2.10 GAA, .927 Sv%; x-Nathaniel Boyes, 2 gp, 2.00 GAA, .918 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 7 shu, 2.18 GAA, .921 Sv%
Last week win, at Welland, 5-2; win, home to Welland, 7-1; loss, at Fort Erie, 5-2
Upcoming first-round bye
Fort Erie Meteors
Record 36-12-2, 74 points, .740, second place
Streak 2 losses
Offence/defence goals for, 191; goals against, 118
Special teams power play, 17.7%; penalty kill, 80.5%
Penalties, in minutes 817
Scoring Kyle Adamo, 25 g, 32 a, 57 pts.; Liam Beamish, 27 g, 29 a, 56 pts.; Blake Hall, 15 g, 37 a, 52 pts.
Goaltending Charlie Burns, 28 gp, 2 shu, 2.46 GAA, .914 Sv%; John Lloyd, 20 gp, 4 shu, 2.13 GAA, .917 Sv%; x-Logan Slou, 2 gp, 2.54 GAA, .894; James Gall, 1 gp, 1 shu, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 7 shu, 2.34 GAA, .913 Sv%
Last week loss, home to Hamilton, 4-3; loss, at St. Catharines, 3-2 OT
Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Port Colborne, Fort Erie won sea- son series 6 wins to 1, 12 points to 2 have outscored Pirates 33-11
St. Catharines Falcons
Record 36-12-1-1, 74 points, .740, third place
Streak 4 wins
Offence/defence goals for, 197; goals against, 128
Special teams power play, 24.2%; penalty kill, 86.1%
Penalties, in minutes 1,092
Scoring Caleb Thompson, 27 g, 25 a, 52 pts.; Tyler Hunt, 23 g, 22 a, 45 pts.; Brenden Anderson, 23 g, 22 a, 44 pts.; Treyson Dewar, 24 g, 16 a, 40 pts.
Goaltending Hayden Jeffery, 36 gp, 3 shu, 2.49 GAA, .925 Sv%;
Cal Gardner, 16 g, 2 shu, 2.37 GAA, .927 Sv%; Gavin Disano, 1 gp, 3.00 GAA, .914 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 5 shu, 2.51 GAA, .924 Sv%
Last week win, at Pelham, 5-4 OT; win, home to Fort Erie, 3-2
Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Pelham, St. Catharines won season series 7 to none, 14 points to 3, outscoring the Panthers 41-16
Hamilton Kilty B’s
Record 24-22-4, 52 points, .520, fourth place
Streak 2 wins
Offence/defence goals for, 163; goals against, 162
Special teams power play, 17.1%; penalty kill, 85.3%
Penalties, in minutes 766
Scoring Dean Deligeorgis, 11 g, 31 a, 40 pts.; Anthony Giacalone, 17 g, 18 a, 35 pts.; Brett Henderson, 13 g, 17 a, 30 pts.
Goaltending Gabriel Longo, 26 gp, 2 shu, 3.43 GAA; .888 Sv%; Vlad Visan, 21 gp, 1 shu, 2.56 GAA, .924 Sv%; x-Cole Scullion, 5 gp, 2.66 GAA, .913 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 3 shu, 3.21 GAA, .899 Sv%
Last week win, at Fort Erie, 4-3; win, home to Port Colborne, 3-0
Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Welland, Welland won season series 4 games to 3, 8 points to 3, and outscored Kilty B’s 21-20
Welland Jr. Canadians
Record 15-31-4, 34 points, .340, fifth place
Streak 4 losses
Offence/defence goals for, 112; goals against, 208
Special teams power play, 13.1%; penalty kill, 77.9% Penalties, in minutes 638
Scoring Jack Ryan, 23 g, 12 a, 35 pts.; Matthew Coates, 10 g, 18 a, 28 pts.; Joshua Cacciola, 9 g, 16 a, 25 pts.
Goaltending Andrew Welch, 17 gp, 2.98 GAA, .918 Sv%; Stanley Mannell, 17 gp, 5.44 GAA, .866 Sv%; Ethan Labbe, 12 gp, 3.45 GAA, .906 Sv%; x-Shea Laurin, 4 gp, 4.40 GAA, .831 Sv%; Ben Rossi, 4 gp, 3.45 GAA, .906 Sv%; x-Kai Skilbeck, 1 gp, 9.63 GAA, .813 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 4.13 GAA, .890 Sv%
Last week loss, home to Caledonia, 5-2; loss, at Caledonia, 7-1 Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Hamilton, Welland won season series 4 games to 3, 8 points to 3, and outscored Kilty B’s 21-20
Pelham Panthers
Record 14-33-2-1, 31 points, .310, sixth place
Streak 2 losses
Offence/defence goals for, 124; goals against, 209
Special teams power play, 15.5%; penalty kill, 80.8%
Penalties, in minutes 1,228
Scoring Connor Clark, 13 g, 16 a, 29 pts.; Cooper Drennan, 6 g, 18 a, 24 pts.; Keagan Knight, 5 g, 13 a, 18 pts.
Goaltending Carter Vicente, 24 gp, 3.63 GAA, .913 Sv%; x-Logan Slou, 13 gp, 3.58 GAA, .917 Sv%; Aidan Thomson, 10 gp, 4.03 GAA, .892 Sv%; x-Danny Doyle, 4 gp, 5.62 GAA, .858 Sv%; Patrick Sutherland 3 g, 5.94 GAA, .854 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 4.12 GAA, .900 Sv%
Last week loss, home to St. Catharines, 5-4 OT; loss, at Port Colborne, 4-2 Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Pelham, St. Catharines won season series 7 wins to none, 14 points to 3, outscoring the Panthers 41-16
Port Colborne Sailors
Record 12-33-4-1, 29 points, .290, seventh place
Streak 1 win
Offence/defence goals for, 128; goals against, 216
Special teams power play, 13.8%; penalty kill, 77.1%
Penalties, in minutes 1,106
Scoring P.J. Alexander, 11 g, 18 a, 29 pts.; Mitchell Yates, 5 g, 21 a, 26 pts.; Gabriel Trozzo, 1 g, 19 a, 20 pts.
Goaltending Isaac Gravelle, 28 gp, 1 shu, 3.96 GAA, .906 Sv%; x-Tucker Adams, 14 gp, 1 shu, 4.21 GAA, .895 Sv%; Lucas Cardiff-Bilodeau, 12 gp, 4.81 GAA, .894 Sv%; team, 50 gp, 2 shu, 4.34 GAA, .897 Sv%
Last week win, home to Pelham, 4-2; loss, at Hamilton, 3-0
Upcoming best-of-7 quarterfinal vs. Port Colborne, Fort Erie won season series 6 wins to 1, 12 points to 2 have outscored Pirates 33-11
x — no longer with team