Meteors eclipsed at home
Caledonia evens final with Fort Erie at one win apiece
Home ice was no advantage Saturday night when the Fort Erie Meteors hosted Caledonia in Game 2 in their best-of-seven Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Golden Horseshoe Conference final.
Though undefeated on the road so far in the playoffs with a 6-0 record, the second-seeded Meteors dropped to 3-3 at Fort Erie Leisureplex following a 3-2 loss to the top-seeded Corvairs.
Game 3 was Sunday night in Caledonia, where Fort Erie won the opening game of the third-round series by the same score.
Despite the loss, Meteors general manager-head coach Nik Passero suggested his team was much better at home than they were when they went 1-2 against the St. Catharines Falcons in the semifinals.
“It’s playoff hockey. We know who we are, we weren’t going to sweep these guys,” he said. “I’m not really worried about it.
“It sucks we can’t win for our fans, but I thought we were good tonight.”
Fort Erie’s Olympic-size rink, a larger ice surface than most in the league, put the Meteors at a disadvantage against the highest-scoring team in the 23-team league during the regular season.
“Bigger ice, way harder to defend. They got some lethal players over there,” Passero said. “They don’t give up much because they’re so good offensively.
“When they have the puck on their stick, it’s hard to get it back,” he added.
Caledonia scored 234 goals during the 50-game regular season. In comparison, the seventh-seeded Port Colborne Sailors, Fort Erie’s first-round opponent, scored 128, and No. 3 seed St. Catharines had 194.
“Just a completely different beast than what we competed with in the past couple of series but I’m happy with our effort,” Passero said. “We’re fine. They scored one more goal than us.
‘‘ We know who we are, we weren’t going to sweep these guys.
NIK PASSERO METEORS GM AND COACH
“They had some stretches when they were better than us, and we had some stretches when we were better.”
His postgame message to the team? “Get into the cold tubs, get some fluids in, and the bus leaves tomorrow at four o’clock. We’ve got 24 hours to do it again.”
Liam Beamish, on the power play, and Sam Tonelli scored for Fort Erie. Steve LaForme, Markus Dempewolf and Sami Douglas found the back of the net for Caledonia.
The Corvairs outshot their hosts 32-25 before an announced crowd of 1,800 at Fort Erie Leisureplex.
Fort Erie went 1-for-9 on the power play, while Caledonia was 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Meteor writes Fort Erie is playing in the Golden Horseshoe final for the first time since losing to Welland, then known as the Aerostars, in 1991 … Caledonia was swept by the Hamilton Kilty B’s in last year’s final … Game 4 is Wednesday back in Fort Erie with the fifth game the following night at Haldimand Caledonia Community Centre, a twin pad that features two NHL-sized playing surfaces.