Falcons extend win streak to 11
It wasn’t long ago the St. Catharines Falcons found themselves fourth in their conference standings.
They now sit just four points back of the GOJHL Golden Horseshoe-leading Caledonia Corvairs for first-place thanks to a winning streak extended to 11 games with a victory over the Welland Canadians.
The Falcons dispatched of the Canadians 3-2 at home Friday night, despite being penalized for 54 minutes’ worth of infractions.
Goaltender Dillon Lamarche stopped 18 of 20 shots against for the Falcons. His Canadians counterpart Charles Grimard made 30 saves on 33 shots against.
Forward Michael Davies opened the scoring for the Falcons in the first period, capitalizing on a rush opportunity from the left side of the ice. Falcons Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald attributes part of his team’s recent success to the offensive play of Davies.
“He’s been really good,” said Fitzgerald. “We need to keep him playing but he’s a real catalyst for our offense.
“He’s a threat every time he’s on the ice.”
Defenseman Matt Busby tallied on the power-play in the second period, capitalizing on a 5-on-3 opportunity for the Falcons. Rookie Tristan deJong gave the Falcons a three goal lead shortly after with a shot from the point.
“I really liked our second period,” said Fitzgerald. “We were too scrambled in the first and third and we have some things we really need to tighten up.”
Davies was ejected from the game early in the third period after receiving his second 10-minute misconduct for abuse of an official. Welland’s power-play proved to be strong in the third period, scoring twice in rapid succession with goals from Matthew Giannini and Anthony Grigg.
The Canadians scored on two of six opportunities with the extra man. St. Catharines scored just once on seven power-plays.
Despite winning their 11th straight, the Falcons are not taking their success for granted.
“It’s funny, I didn’t even know it was 11 games,” said Fitzgerald. “We’re focused on winning hockey games, each and every game, every period, every battle.”
Both teams are back in action on Sunday, when the Falcons will look to extend their winning streak to 12 in Welland at 1:30 p.m.