Spartans hope to ground T’Hawks
St. Catharines going for third win in a row
Streaks on opposite sides of the won-loss ledger are on the line Thursday when the St. Catharines Spartans host the Niagara Thunderhawks in junior B lacrosse.
St. Catharines, 5-5, comes into the 8 p.m. faceoff at Thorold Community Arenas seeking its third win in a row and fourth in five games, while Niagara, 3-4-1, is hoping to snap a three-game losing streak.
This is the first of two league games between the Spartans and the Thunderhawks. The homeand-home series wraps up Tuesday, June 4, at Meridian Credit Arena in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Also eager to slam the brakes on a losing slide are the Welland Generals, 0-10. Thursday’s schedule has them on the road playing Hamilton, 8-1-1.
In addition to entering the win column for the first time this season, the Generals would like to avenge a 13-4 loss to the Bengals in their home opener.
Spartans
In the Spartans’ last game, Sam LeClair and teammate Connor Aquanno provided a one-two punch that kept host Generals down for the count, and out of the win column.
LeClair, with four goals and seven assists for a game-high 11 points, and Aquanno, six goals, two assists, paced the St. Catharines offence in the 14-9 victory.
Owen Bachelor, Carter Geoffroy, Mitchell Geoffroy and Tyler Kolodka also scored for the Spartans, who outshot their hosts 56-48.
Peter Hryniuk, also with six goals on the night, Dylan Dekoe, Bailey Fournier-Higgins and Ethen Wellings replied for Welland.
Affiliated player Justin Rombough earned the win after replacing Adam Brennan in the St. Catharines net. Rombough allowed five goals on 36 shots, while Brennan surrendered four goals on 12 shots.
Matt Hines went the distance between the pipes for Welland.
It was the Spartans’ second win in as many days. They edged the visiting London Blue Devils 12-9 the night before on goals from Blair Pachereva, Mitchell Geoffroy, Aquanno, LeClair (two each), Jacob Edmands, Blake Halliday, Ben Katzman and Kolodka.
Shots on net were 64-39 in favour of St. Catharines.
MacGregor Allen, James Ross, Aquanno, LeClair and Pachereva replied for the Spartans in a 10-5 loss at home to Hamilton.
St. Catharines visits the Six Nations Rebels on Friday night and is home to the Windsor Clippers in a 4 p.m. start Sunday.
Thunderhawks
A continued power outage on the power play didn’t help the Thunderhawks when they visited the Owen Sound North Stars.
While the Thunderhawks outshot their hosts 40-38, they went 0-for-5 with a man advantage in the 8-7 loss.
Nathan Maloney and Devin Napolean, with two apiece; affiliated player Bryce Benham, Brandon Sveda and Connor Watson netted goals for Niagara.
The T’Hawks went 0-for-13 on the power play in a 10-5 loss at home to Six Nations.
Affiliated player Brett Beetow, Joseph Conti, Lou Surace, Maloney and Napolean scored for Niagara, which was outshot 63-46.
After visiting the Guelph Regals Friday night, the T’Hawks will host the Point Edward Pacers 4 p.m. Sunday.
Generals
Welland went 0-2 on the weekend, following up an 18-12 road loss to Point
Edward with the setback to St. Catharines.
Saturday night’s game at Point Edward, near Sarnia, was deadlocked at three-all heading into the first intermission, and the Generals were up 10-8 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the second period.
Welland was unable to get back into the game after the Pacers went on an eightgoal run on their way to clinching the win.
Point Edward outshot the Gens 60-47 and went 6-for-13 on the power play. Welland finished the game 0-for-3 with a man advantage but did score three short-handed goals.
Justin Porga, four goals; Hrynuik, three; Lucas Briscall, affiliated player James Turley, Dekoe, Fournier-Higgins and Wellings accounted for the Generals offence.
Affiliated player Joe Brant was tagged with the loss.
Welland is home Saturday to Windsor. Game time at the main arena is 7 p.m.
The Generals are in Niagara-on-theLake on Wednesday looking to avenge a 14-9 loss in the opening game of the homeand-home season series between the South West Division rivals.