Title quest continues for Falcons
St. Catharines taking on well-rested Caledonia side in second round of junior-B playoffs
You’ll have to excuse St. Catharines Falcons fans for feeling a sense of déjà vu heading into the second round of the junior-B playoffs. The similarities to 2019-20 are striking.
For starters, they opened postseason play this year by sweeping the Pelham Panthers, just like they did in 2019-20. As was also the case for the Falcons in the last pre-pandemic season, a best-of-seven semifinal is scheduled to get underway on a Friday night, albeit this time at home. In March 2020, the Falcons were about to play the Niagara Falls Canucks when COVID-19 cancelled the rest of the playoffs that year as well as the entire 2020-21 season.
“We have a lot of kids in that dressing room who had never played a junior playoff game this year,” head coach Tyler Bielby said. “There are new challenges for the coaches as we go into the second round. Preparation is everything and we’re excited about those uncharted waters.”
No. 2 seed St. Catharines hosts the third-seeded Caledonia Corvairs in a 7 p.m. puck drop Friday at Jack Gatecliff Arena. Game 2 is the following night in Caledonia.
The Falcons haven’t played since they completed a first-round sweep of Pelham on April 12, but Bielby isn’t worried about the team having too much of a break between games.
“I think it’s just an opportunity to get better in practice and make sure we’re both mentally and physically prepared for puck drop on Friday.”
The second-year coach is a “little surprised” that higher seeds swept all four opening-round series in the Golden Horseshoe Conference.
“It’s just that playoffs are a different beast. Even the underdogs in a series can find ways to win a game here and there,” he said. “It didn’t happen in our division, and it wasn’t for a lack of good hockey games. Teams competed, but it just ended up going down that way.”
During the regular season, St. Catharines went 7-0 against Cale- donia, including a 1-0 win by forfeit in the season opener for both teams. However, the Falcons — their seven graduating players es- pecially — know from experience that results from league play are ancient history come playoff time.
“I think the message in the room is obviously, ‘It’s a new season.’ We know that Caledonia has some high-end talent, we know that they have a good goaltender and some guys who can do some real damage on the offensive side of the puck,” Bielby said. “We’ll treat it as a new season and prepare as if that series was tied in the regular season because we’ll see different hockey in the playoffs, no question.”
The Falcons encountered a higher level of intensity in the opening round versus the Panthers.
“I didn’t see too many ice packs in my dressing room throughout the season,” Bielby said. “I saw a lot more in the first round, and I think that’s a testament to the physicality of playoff hockey, especially when you’re dealing with a team that has a lot of 20-year-olds on it.
“Nobody is going to roll over and give anybody a win. They’re going to work until that final buzzer.”
Bielby said the seventh-seeded Panthers made the Falcons “work
for everything we got” in the quarterfinals.
“As a result, that should make us better for the second round.”
For the Falcons, sticking to the game plan is the key to advancing to play either the No. 1 seed Hamilton Kilty B’s or the fourth-seeded Fort Erie Meteors for the conference championship.
“It’s just playing our game and not getting caught up in what happens through the process of that game,” Bielby said. “Bringing pucks to the net and making sure we’re responsible on the defensive side of the puck.
“We know that they can put pucks away when they’re given opportunities, so we have to minimize those opportunities as much as we can and make sure we’re on the defensive side of the puck.”
The Falcons have been going over film preparing for the semifinals. Caledonia, which needed only four games to eliminate the sixth-seeded Thorold Blackhawks in the opening round, has been doing likewise.
“I think when you’re getting into a seven-game series it’s really important to prepare,” Bielby said. “In our case, we’ve had this time off between the first and second rounds.
“That gave us an opportunity to make sure that we are prepared for Caledonia and the different things they will throw our way.”
The Falcons are dedicating the playoffs to Jack Gatecliff Arena. Their home since the franchise was founded in 1968 is closing after 84 years, and the team hopes to close out the arena’s remarkable history with a Sutherland Cup championship.
“The Jack has our back,” Bielby said. “No name on the back of the jersey is bigger than the game itself or the Falcon on the front.”