Falcons, Canucks set to square off
The Niagara Falls Canucks and St. Catharines Falcons meet Friday in St. Catharines and again Sunday afternoon in the Niagara Falls. Photo by: MIKE DiBATTISTA.
The top two teams in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League square off twice this weekend with first place on the line.
The Niagara Falls Canucks, who lead all of the GOJHL with an .871 winning percentage, visit the St. Catharines Falcons Friday before the teams play a return engagement Sunday afternoon in the Falls at 3 p.m.
The Canucks lead the Falcons by three points with a game in hand for first place in the Golden Horseshoe Conference and make no bones about the fact they want to stay on top.
“It’s been a goal of ours since Day 1,” Canucks coach Frank Pietrangelo said. “When we came in here it was to win our league. We’ve talked about it a lot. We believe we have a championship hockey club here and we take care of games one at a time and the standings take care of themselves.
“For the most part this year, take away a handful of games, we’ve been in first place. It’s always been one of our motivating factors and continues to be.”
Falcons coach/general manager Frank Girhiny doesn’t seem as fixated on the standings.
“This weekend for us is to play two real strong games no matter what the end result is,” he said. “I want the wins, but if we don’t win and play strong games, that’s going to be very important.
“It’s not the end all and be all, but we certainly want to finish in first place and we have to go through Niagara Falls to do that.”
The Canucks took the first two matchups of the season series 6-3 and 6-1, but those games kicked off the season and the rosters of both clubs have changed significantly.
The Canucks also edged the Falcons 4-3 in overtime Oct. 30, the last time the teams met.
“Niagara Falls is a different animal,” Girhiny said. “They are mature, stronger and have a lot of swagger and that combination can be deadly when they are going. When it’s not going, it can do a 180 and we’ve seen that at times with that team.
“It’s a good measure for where we’re at. I don’t think we’ve been playing the best hockey over the last couple of weeks. It could be a combination of a lot of things. I don’t see us playing with a lot of intensity where we were earlier.”
Pietrangelo says despite their desire to finish in first place, the Canucks are attempting to treat the matchups like another other games in the schedule.
“We had Hamilton Monday and they were coming off a win over St. Catharines and that was a big win for us. Friday is an even bigger game and Sunday becomes a bigger game that that,” he said. “The last game is your biggest one until your next one.”
The Falcons and Canucks meet for the last time on Family Day, Monday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. at the Gale Centre.
“It’s St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. It’s a huge rivalry. We’ve been 1-2 all year and I’m sure we’ll be ready to play and we want to win,” Pietrangelo said. “We’re excited. The kids all know each. The rivalry is great. With Caledonia out of the picture, it’s become an even bigger rivalry. It’s been going on for years and years.”
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