Falcons come back to double up on Canucks

St. Catharines creates tie for third place; Pelham gets revenge in Battle of Rice Road

Two unanswered goals, both from Curtis Egert, gave the St. Catharines Falcons a 4-2 victory over the Niagara Falls Canucks, and moved them into a tie with the Canucks for third place in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.

The Falcons, who outshot their hosts 30-23 in junior B action at Gale Centre on Friday night, also got goals from Noah Blakely and Nick Volpatti.

Blair Coffin earned the win, backstopping St. Catharines to its first victory versus the defending conference champions in league play after starting the season series 0-2.

Ryan Donovan and Andrew Bruno found the back of the net for the Canucks, who were trying to complete a sweep of a home-and-home with the Falcons. Niagara Falls skated to a 6-5 victory Tuesday night at Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines.

Both teams finished the rematch 0-for-2 on the power play.

Each exited the weekend with 25 points and a .658 winning percentage. While the Canucks (11-5-2-1) have the edge in headto-head play, the Falcons (12-61-0) have more wins.

The Thorold Blackhawks (116-2-1), with a .625 winning percentage, also have 25 points, but St. Catharines and Niagara Falls both have a game in hand.

Second in the nine-team conference, with 26 points and .684 winning percentage, are the Hamilton Kilty B’s (12-5-2-0).

Leading the conference and the 26-team league, with 33 points and a .917 winning percentage, are the Caledonia Corvairs (16-1-0-1).

On Monday night, the Canucks visit the Kilty B’s at Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena in Hamilton, while the Falcons are off until Friday when they host the Pelham Panthers.

Panthers 3,

Jr. Canadians 2

At Pelham, Brandon Edwards’ goal 11:01 into the third period broke a 2-2 tie, as the hosts defeated Welland for the first time this season.

Hunter Godmere opened the scoring with a short-handed goal, and the Panthers went up 2-0 on an even-strength marker from Griffin Vaughan.

Lucas Trimarchi and Ivan Osminin replied for the Jr. Canadians, who outshot Pelham 43-32.

Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play: Pelham went 0-for-5, while Welland finished 0-for-6.

Round 3 in the Battle of Rice

Road was set for Sunday night with the Jr. Canadians (3-132-0) home to the Panthers (510-0-2). Welland opened the season series with Pelham with a 6-2 win at home Oct. 10.

Rangers 3, Peach Kings 1

At Grimsby, Glanbrook scored two power-play goals and killed eight of nine penalties, knocking the hosts from the Provincial Junior Hockey League undefeated ranks. Noah Bollert, Cooper Hood and Connor McQuhae scored for the Rangers (12-5). Maxime Pleau replied for the Peach Kings (13-1).

Each team had 27 shots on net.

Glanbrook finished Friday night’s junior C game 2-for-6 with the man advantage. Grimsby was 1-for-9.