Falcons party like it’s 2013
St. Catharines win franchise’s Golden Horseshoe championship for the first time in nine years
The St. Catharines Falcons scratched a nine-year itch Friday night, winning a conference championship in the last Golden Horseshoe game at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
But the second-seeded Falcons, whose 1-0 victory over the No. 1 seed Hamilton Kilty B’s gave them their first Golden Horseshoe title since 2013 and 17th overall, aren’t finished giving farewell presents to their beloved “Old Barn.”
“This is great, and we have to enjoy the opportunity, but our goal all year has been that Sutherland Cup,” head coach Tyler Bielby said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
With Nicholas Rubino providing the offence, with an even-strength goal 3:09 into the game, and Andrew Maclean making 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the playoffs, the Falcons won the best-of-seven conference final four games to two.
They will play the Midwestern Conference champion Cambridge Redhawks and the Western champion Chatham Maroons in a double round-robin tournament. The top two finishers advance to face each other in a best-of-three final for the Sutherland Cup.
With the win, the Falcons improved their playoff record at home to 7-0 in an arena that was built in 1938 and has been the team’s home
since the franchise was founded in 1968.
Bielby said the Falcons would like nothing better than to close out The Jack with their second Ontario junior-b championship and first since 2012.
“The whole year we talked about the fans and the tradition of this building and doing right by The Jack. The Old Barn,” he said. “It means everything to be able to leave one last piece of history.”
Maclean followed up his regular season most valuable player honours by being named the top player in the post-season.
Bielby and general manager Frank Girhiny said the honour was richly deserved.
“It’s an understatement to say he works hard. Day in and day out, he tries to get better,” Bielby said. “He tries to be better for his teammates.
“There’s definitely sense of calm when you have the best goalie in the league.” Girhiny said the Falcons were “so lucky” to land the overager from Port Huron, Mich., after he was released by Niagara Icedogs during the Ontario Hockey League team’s training camp.
“When he committed to us, we were quite proud. We didn’t know he was going to be as good as he was,” Girhiny said. “What a player. Best goalie in the country at the Tier 2 junior level.
“He’s showing it and I’m really so happy for him.”
Girhiny made a point of giving credit to the affiliated players, such as Luca Testa, 16, of Grimsby, who were called up to help the team.
“They really impacted our team at the end. The players on the team accepted them and understood,” he said.
“The greater thing is they wanted to win, and here we are.”
Testa, who was taken in the first round by the London Knights, 15th overall, in the Ontario Hockey League draft, has five goals and eight assists in 12 playoff games since joining the team after spending his under-16 triple-a season with the Niagara North Stars.
Maclean said he “couldn’t put into words how happy” the team is to win the Golden Horseshoe and
remain in contention for a Sutherland Cup.
“Eight months ago all the fellows said this is the team we feel like can take us all the way, and we stuck with it,” he said.
Maclean, who finished the regular season with 10 shutouts and the lowest goals-against average in the 25-team league, thrived under the pressure of keeping the Falcons in one-goal games.
“Stopping pucks is why Frank brought me here. If I can stop all of them in one game, even better,” he said. “All it takes is one and to come out 1-0 is all we need.”
Braedyn Mcintosh, his counterpart between the pipes for Hamilton, was on the bench for the final 2:39 of the game in place of an extra attacker. Was Maclean tempted to clear the puck down the ice in hopes of scoring an insurance goal into an empty net?
“Not in a 1-0 game. If I have a 2-0 game, room for error, I might be heading for the empty net,” he answered. “But 1-0? I’d rather get the win.”
Shots on net were 26-21 in favour of the Kilty B’s. Hamilton finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play while St. Catharines failed to score on two opportunities with the man advantage.
Before posing for a team picture with the championship trophy, players doused Bielby with water, drenching the second-year head coach’s suit jacket.
“It’s a brand new shirt and tie that I bought this afternoon, and the boys made sure that it got some wear pretty quickly,” he said with a chuckle.
Falcons Feathers Announced attendance at Friday night’s game was 891 … The Falcons will hold their annual awards banquet and luncheon on Sunday.