Siskins take opener versus Canucks
The Niagara Falls Canucks lost the battle Friday night, but the war rages on.
“I think we came out with a little bit of a hangover from the last game, but every guy in our room knows we can be better and we are going to bring it Sunday,” said captain Ben Evans, after the Canucks opened the Sutherland Cup semifinals Friday at the Gale Centre with a 4-2 loss to the Waterloo Siskins.
Evans describes Waterloo as a fast team with good depth.
“They come at you with a couple of different lines but like I said, we are going to be better next time.”
Evans isn’t worried about how the veteran-laden Canucks will react to opening the series with a loss on home ice.
“To be down one game in a series is nothing for us,” he said. “We are going to keep going and everyone is good and knows we need to bounce back the next game and put that one behind us.”
The Canucks captain had a simple message for his team afterwards.
“It’s playoffs and you have to have a short-term memory,” the 20-year-old Thorold native said. “You win 1-0 or 8-0, you get a win, you lose 8-0, you get a loss. It’s just one game, it’s in the books and you can’t do anything about it.”
Canucks head coach/GM Frank Pietrangelo lamented a slow start by his squad.
“We have to get better than that because we didn’t come out well in the first period,” he said. “They were the better team, but after that, our game got better, but our discipline wasn’t good enough, that’s for sure.
“We spent way too much time in the box, rightfully so or not, I don’t know.”
Pietrangelo felt his team could have still won the game.
“We had chances, we had breakaways and it is what it is.”
Waterloo came exactly as advertised Friday.
“We know they are a good hockey club and we are going to have to regroup, watch some film and see what we can do better,” Pietrangelo said. “They are just like everybody else we have played recently, a good hockey team.”
Patrick McCabe scored both goals for Niagara Falls in the game while amassing 24 minutes in penalties. In eight playoff games so far this spring, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound forward has potted seven goals and 10 points while spending 90 minutes in the penalty box.
“He’s a good hockey player and it’s unfortunate he is in the box a lot,” Pietrangelo said. “That is another one of those situations where is it right or is it wrong?
“His reputation kind of precedes him at times, but I can’t comment on the type of stuff because it gets me in trouble. But when he’s on the ice, he’s a force.”
The Siskins were a force early Friday.
“I thought our first period was really good and we dictated the pace and sent a message in the first period,” Waterloo coach Todd Hoffman said. “In the second period, we kind of laid back a little bit and gave them a little bit of the momentum.”
As for the third period, Hoffman described it as evenly matched.
“I think both teams were a little tired but, for the most part, I was pleased with the effort.”
Hoffman describes Niagara Falls as a good hockey team.
“Their transition game is good and we have to make sure we seal off the middle,” he said. “When we watched the video, everything seemed to come through the middle with them.
“Their goaltender plays the puck really well and he’s pretty solid back there.”
Waterloo was pretty solid too and left Niagara Falls Friday night with a feeling of mission accomplished.
“That was our goal when we came here,” Hoffman said. “We wanted to grab Game 1.”
Niagara Falls took almost 14 minutes to get their second shot on goal of the first period. By then, the Canucks were down 2-0 with Alex Lycett scoring for the Siskins on a two-man advantage and Sam Spaedt adding an even-strength marker. Niagara Falls found their legs in the latter stages of the period and Waterloo goalie Matt Onuska was up to the task, stopping Andrew Bruno and David D’Agostino on breakaways. Shots on goal in the period favoured Waterloo 19-6.
The Canucks played a much better second period and were rewarded when McCabe potted a power-play goal 7:04 into the period to cut the lead to 2-1. Both teams had a number of chances with the best for both teams coming when Lycett rocketed a shot off the post with Niagara Falls killing a penalty. The Canucks outshot the Siskins 10-7 in the period.
The Canucks dominated the first eight minutes of the first period and held Waterloo without a shot until that point. Unfortunately, the Siskins’ first shot of the period was a nice backhand goal by Winston Cesnick. Before that point, Bruno hit the post for Niagara Falls and D’Agostino came close on a nice deflection in front.
After killing off a 1:06 two-man advantage by Waterloo, Niagara Falls cut the lead to 3-2 when McCabe drew a penalty and then banged in a rebound shortly afterwards on the power play.
Niagara Falls pressed to get the tying goal, but Waterloo did a nice job of clogging things up and limiting the number of quality scoring chances Niagara Falls had. With their goalie pulled, Niagara Falls got a power-play with 1:02 left in the game when Mitch Mendonca drew a hooking penalty. Following a Niagara Falls’ timeout, Waterloo’s Tyler Dam scored into the empty net with 55 seconds left on a shot from the Siskins’ face-off circle.
STATS PACK
Siskins 4 Canucks 2
BPSN Star of the Game: Niagara Falls’ Patrick McCabe with two goals.
For the Niagara Falls Canucks: Patrick McCabe (6, 7).
For the Waterloo Siskins: Sam Spaedt (6); Alex Lycett (8); Winston Cesnick (9); Tyler Dam (2).
Game stats: Shots on goal: by Niagara Falls on Matt Onuska 28; by Waterloo on Zack Moore 33. Power plays: Niagara Falls 2-6, Waterloo 1-8. Penalty minutes: Niagara Falls 50, Waterloo 18.
Attendance: 736.
Up next: Game 2 of the series is Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex in Waterloo followed by Game 3 Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Gale Centre in St. Catharines.
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