Falcons, Canucks come up big at home
All eyes were on Dakota Miskolzci and brothers Nathan and Lucas Smilsky when the St. Catharines Falcons hosted the Welland Junior Canadians.
And for good reason with the trio combining for 11 points as the Falcons skated to a 12-2 victory for the second win in a row on their home ice.
“Those guys move the puck so well,” Miskolzci said of his linemates. “I love playing with them and everything just clicked tonight.” St. Catharines head coach Dan Fitzgerald did not play forwards Michael Davies, Tanner Ferreira and Jaleel Adams in the first period. Ferreira and Davies were both ejected from the Falcons’ 5-3 loss to the Pelham Panthers last Sunday.
“Those guys are good teammates,” said Fitzgerald. “That’s the main purpose, we need guys who are going to pull the rope together and once we saw that they got more ice later in the night.”
Miskolzci opened the scoring for the Falcons, scoring just 13 seconds into the game. Nathan Smilsky added another tally 28 second later to give the Falcons an early two-goal lead.
“They found some chemistry early,” said Fitzgerald, whose team outshot Welland 42-40. “It’s just something we threw together for today, but after that it may be something we keep together.”
Lucas Smilsky, Jack Venneri and Carson Eden also score for the Falcons in the first period. Welland forward Alexander Dameski scored the Junior Canadians only goal of the frame.
Mitch Pellarin and Tyler MacArthur added goals for the hosts in the second period with Matthew Giannini replying for Welland in the frame.
Miskolzci netted two more goals in the third period to complete a hat-trick performance. Ferreira, Lucas Smilsky and Zach Lawrence also added markers in the third period.
St. Catharines finished 1-for-2 on the power play; Welland, 0-for-8.
Next action for the Falcons is Friday when the Caledonia Corvairs visit Jack Gatecliff Arena for a 7 p.m. faceoff.
Canucks 9, Regals 2
At Niagara Falls, the Canucks outshot Buffalo 52-30 for their fifth win in a row overtaking the idle Caledonia Corvairs to move into first place in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.
Niagara Falls improved to 15-6, one point ahead of Caledonia, 142-0-1; and St. Catharines Falcons, 13-4-0-2.
Caledonia’s first opportunity to regain top spot in the nine-team conference comes tonight on the road against the 5-12 Fort Erie Meteors.
Garrett Downie, with two goals; Noah Boman, Hayden Broomhead, Tanner Brown, Matthew Caruso, Owen Devine, Frank Pucci and Jacob Stos found the back of the net for the Canucks against the Regals, who fell to 1-16-0-1.
Cameron Clark and Nash Braun replied for Buffalo, which was hoping to win its second in a row after ending a 16-game, season-long losing streak with a 6-5 victory in double overtime over the Pelham Panthers last Tuesday.
Buffalo went 0-for-3 on the power play; Niagara Falls, 1-for-2.
Other action tonight has the Thorold Blackhawks, 8-10-1-0; visiting the Ancaster Avalanche, 12-3; with Sunday’s schedule has Fort Erie at Pelham, 7-11-0-1; for a 3 p.m. matinee and Ancaster visiting the Jr. Canadians for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop at Welland Arena.