Falcons edge Canucks to move into first
Noah Battaglia made 28 saves as the St. Catharines Falcons edged the Niagara Falls Canucks 3-2 Saturday at the Gale Centre. Photo by: BILL POTRECZ
Noah Battaglia figures the more, the merrier.
The 18-year-old netminder blanked the Welland Junior Canadians 5-0 Friday night and followed that up with another stellar performance Saturday at the Gale Centre.
Battaglia kicked out 28 shots as the St. Catharines Falcons topped the Niagara Falls Canucks 3-2 in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference game.
The victory lifts the Falcons over the Canucks and into first place by one point. The Falcons own the best winning percentage (.872) in the GOJHL.
“Obviously, I want to play every game but Govs (Jack McGovern) is a great goalie and they have confidence in him too,” Battaglia said. “I just play my hardest when my name gets called.”
Battaglia began the season in the Ontario Hockey League with the Erie Otters before joining the Falcons where he has won all five of his starts with a 2.40 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
“I didn’t get a lot of minutes at the start of the year in Erie. I was playing once every few games, but I don’t really focus on whether I’m playing or not,” he said.
Falcons coach/general manager Frank Girhiny added Battaglia at the trade deadline for a reason.
“We brought him in to be our No. 1 goalie,” Girhiny said. “He needs minutes and he has to learn to go back-to-back.
“I’m really pleased with his game tonight.”
Battaglia gives the Falcons more experience between the pipes for what they anticipate is a long playoff run.
“We have a No. 1 goalie and I’m going to ride him as much as I can, but if he’s cold then we put Jack in who’s been great.
“We want to ride the hot hand.”
Battaglia tried to treat Saturday’s match up like any other game despite the fact it was a clash between the top two teams in the GOJHL.
“I don’t really care about who we’re playing,” he said. “Obviously you watch some video so you know what you’re walking into before the game but I don’t really look at the standings. We need the two points in every game.”
Both teams looked spent after coming off wins Friday.
“We found a way to win,” Girhiny said. “All in all, it was a pretty good effort coming into this rink and beating them two times in a row but I didn’t think we played our best.”
Niagara Falls coach Frank Pietrangelo lamented the number of early calls which took away any flow from the game.
“It (penalties) goes one way and then it goes the other way,” he said. “I just thought it was just an OK game. I thought we deserved a point out of the game.
“We lost the game and we’re disappointed we didn’t win. The effort was there. We played hard and so did they, but it was just one of those games that wasn’t overly entertaining.”
The teams traded goals in a penalty-filled opening period. Ben Evans netted his 30th for the Falls before Jacob Roach quickly answered with his 26th of the season. Later in the period, Evans was ejected for a head check on Roach and will be suspended for the next two games as well.
The Canucks grabbed a 2-1 lead when the red-hot Andrew Bruno scored. Less than a minute later, the Falcons responded when Noah Solinger netted his sixth of the season. It was the hard-working forward’s first goal in seven games. St. Catharines then took their first lead a couple of minutes later when Dakota Miskolczi tipped a shot which trickled off Canucks’ goaltender Zach Moore’s glove.
Falls file: Patrick McCabe and Garrett Downie were scratched for the Canucks . . . Christian Girhiny, Kyle West and Dawson McKinney did not dress for the Falcons.
Falcons 3 Canucks 2
BPSN Star of the Game: St. Catharines goaltender Noah Battaglia with 28 saves.
Niagara Falls Canucks: Ben Evans (30); Andrew Bruno (21).
St. Catharines Falcons: Jacob Roach (26); Dakota Miskolczi (14); Noah Solinger (6).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara Falls on Battaglia (30), by St. Catharines on Zach Moore (24); Power plays: Niagara Falls 0-for-4, St. Catharines 1-for-5; Penalty minutes: Niagara Falls 15, St. Catharines 20.
Attendance: 615.
Up next: The Falcons are in Pelham Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Canucks are in Thorold Thursday and home to Welland Friday.
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