Falcons edge Welland in OT
It has been a big two days for St. Catharines Falcons defenceman Mason Howard.
The London native celebrated his 21st birthday Thursday night and on Friday he scored his first goal as a St. Catharines Falcon in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Welland Junior Canadians in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference action at the Jack Gatecliff Arena.
The burly, 6-foot-3, 210-pounder banked in shot from the side of the net on a power play with 1:46 left in regulation time to set the stage for Chris Reid’s game-winning goal 2:28 into overtime.
Falcons head coach Tyler Bielby was happy to see the former Niagara IceDog reward for his efforts.
“I always challenge the major junior guys when they come down to make sure they embrace these guys and they don’t walk around with their heads too high,” he said. “We have been so happy with Howie in the way he has treated guys in this room. A lot of these young guys look up to him and we were really excited for him to get that big goal for us.”
It wasn’t a highlight reel goal but it was an important one for his team.
“I just threw it out front and then the next thing I looked it was in the net,” Howard said. “It all starts with the team. We had traffic in front, we earned that power play and we capitalized on it.”
Howard isn’t expected to fill the net for his team.
“Obviously points are nice to get every once in awhile but I am here to win and I could care less about getting points. I want the team to do the best you can.”
Howard admits he’s feeling like an old man on the team.
“The bones are starting to hurt, I have bruises everywhere and I am getting old,” he said.
As his junior hockey career winds down, Howard is taking things game by game and he’ll start thinking about his next step when this year is done.
“Obviously I will try to find a place to play next year but my focus is on winning a Sutherland Cup this year.”
The Falcons didn’t look like a Sutherland Cup contender for long stretches of the game Friday, especially in the first period when they were outshot 21-13 by Welland.
“We were a little flat to start the game but good teams find a way to win and that’s what we did tonight,” Howard said.
The Falcons were playing their second game this week after having not played since Jan. 3 because of Ontario government lockdown restrictions.
“We have a lot of guys in there who love being on the ice as much as they can. Not being on the ice the last couple of weeks really sucked,” Howard said. “We are a great team and we want to be on the ice every day.”
To get through the latest pandemic pause to hockey, Howard worked out a ton and skated outside on ponds in London.
“I was trying to get in as much hockey as I could whether it was watching or playing.”
Bielby wasn’t thrilled with his team’s play Friday but he’ll take the win.
“We fought the puck a little bit today and we were a little too nonchalant and we got away from our game plan. But having said that, we never lost our focus on trying to get better and I thought that translated into the third period,” he said. “We played in their end, we wore them down and I thought (Welland goalie Nico) Balice was incredible tonight. That was an all-world performance out of him at times and I thought the third period wearing them down is why we were able to squeak one by and tie it up. Momentum was in our favour at home and we were able to get the two points.”
It was a clunker but a win’s a win.
“As a coaching staff, the truth is we are not very happy with probably about 45 minutes of the game tonight. But once again, if you want to be standing at the end, you have to find ways to win when things aren’t going well. They dug deep tonight and got it done,” Bielby said. “It’s all part of the journey and believing in yourself. A win tonight will allow them to remember that and not want to quit on any game moving forward. A big hats off to Andrew MacLean. It is not easy coming into the third period cold like that. He shut the door for us and allowed us to get back in the game.”
Falcons starting goalie Josh Johnson left the ice favouring his right leg, but Bielby said it wasn’t serious.
“He’s dealing with a cramp. It is something we will work on and he’ll be ready to go.”
STATS PACK
Falcons 4 Junior Canadians 3 (OT)
St. Catharines’ Nicholas Rubino with two goals and an assist.
For the St. Catharines Falcons: Nicholas Rubino (12, 13);Mason Howard (1); Chris Reid (11)
For the Welland Junior Canadians: Owen Hendsbee (3); Ari Alakorpi (5); Patrick Cole (8).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Nico Balice 44; by Welland on Josh Johnson and Andrew MacLean 36. Power plays: St. Catharines 2-5, Welland 0-1. Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 6; Welland 14.
Up next: The Falcons are at the Fort Erie Meteors Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
