Weekend Junior B roundup: Blackhawks, Falcons win twice
The Thorold Blackhawks are still in the running for fourth place following a pair of wins over the long weekend.
The Blackhawks topped the Pelham Panthers 3-2 Sunday afternoon in Pelham followed by a 4-3 victory at Fort Erie Monday afternoon.
The wins lift the Hawks record to 24-22-2 and leaves them one point behind the Caledonia Corvairs for fourth place.
“It’s keeping these games relevant and giving us something to play for at the end of the season,” Thorold coach/general manager Scott Barnes said. “It’s nice to be in this position to be battling for home ice.”
The Hawks and Corvairs meet Saturday in Caledonia for the final time this season. The Corvairs also play at Hamilton Thursday where a win would clinch fourth while the Hawks finish up the regular season at Welland Sunday night.
Brendan Grenville, Callum Cheynowski, Dylan Coers and Jagger North scored for the Hawks Sunday.
“I thought we played a pretty decent game today,” Barnes said. “Kind of an emotional game.
“They’re missing some D but that’s still a pretty good hockey team over there. We’ve all been down that road before. They’ve hit a bit of an injury bug but we’ll take it. We’ll take the two points.”
Tucker Adams, making his second straight start with Christian Lynch called up as an AP to Georgetown of the Ontario Junior Hockey League this weekend, made 35 saves for the win.
“I know I have two good goalies, I just want to make sure both are ready to go if called upon,” Barnes said.
Owin Hendsbee, Brad Ditillio and Josh DiFrancesco replied for the Meteors who were missing Matthew Herb, Cam Thorpe, Kyle Adamo, Nicholas Holomego, Rylan Masterson and Henry Vest from their active roster.
Nolan Lane made 32 saves for Fort Erie.
“Not an ideal time for a three-in-three but we did what we could,” Mets coach/general manager Nik Passero said. “Proud of the guys for battling through the weekend.
“We played a tough Thorold team that needed the points and I thought we came to compete. Very grateful for the U18 teams that let us use their guys this weekend with their playoffs looming. (Coaches) Brody Kritsch (Niagara North) and Marcus Quinlin (Southern Tier) helped us out big time.”
MONDAY
Falcons 2 Canucks 0
Aiden Berry made 25 saves to collect his first shutout as the St. Catharines Falcons blanked the Niagara Falls Canucks at the Gale Centre.
Berry, picked up from London at the trade deadline, kicked out 25 shots.
“Nice road win for the boys this afternoon, and happy for Berry to pick up his first goose egg,” Falcons coach Tyler Bielby said. “It was a full team win as we battled some adversity with guys out of the lineup.”
Jonah Boria gave St. Catharines a 1-0 lead with his 14th of the season halfway through the first period. Kyle Glenney added to the lead with his 23rd early in the second period.
“Special shout-out to Jordan Schanbacher who has really elevated his game and was a big part of our five-point weekend,” Bielby said. “We would have loved to take all six points this weekend, but we will take five of the six and get ready for the last weekend of the regular season.”
The Falcons lead the Hamilton Kilty B’s by two points for first place with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Falcons are home to Fort Erie Friday and back in Niagara Falls Sunday.
The Kilty B’s are home to Caledonia Thursday and at Fort Erie Saturday.
Kilty B’s 7 Panthers 2
Seven players hit the scoresheet as the visiting Hamilton Kilty B’s defeated the Panthers.
Matthew Dionne, Lucas Kisil, Luca Campolo, Nathan Omeri, Zachary Gratton, Noah Vandenbrink and Matthew Duarte scored while Nathan McKinney chipped in with four assists.
Breadner and Jordan Adams replied for Pelham.
Corvairs 5 Junior Canadians 1
The Corvairs kept pace with the Blackhawks with a convincing win over the visiting Junior Canadians.
Daniel Moro, Steven Laforme, Markus Dempewolf, Alex Stewart and Tanner Hunt scored for the Corvairs.
Tyler Isherwood replied for Welland.
SUNDAY
Hawks 3 Panthers 2
Liam Wicks netted the winner with just over five minutes to play at Pelham.
Nathan Kelly and Carson Trevisani also scored for the Blackhawks.
Luke Breadner and Jeremiah Rausch replied for the Panthers.
Adams made 24 saves in net for the win.
Carter Vincente faced 46 shots in goal for Pelham.
Meteors 3 Junior Canadians 2
The Meteors raced out to a 3-0 lead and then held on to edge the Junior Canadians at Welland.
Marcus Regina, Ditillio and Liam Loftus scored for Fort Erie.
Jack Ryan and Isherwood replied for the Junior Canadians.
Josh Smith made 31 saves for the win in net.
Markus Stoikos kicked out 27 shots for Welland.
SATURDAY
Falcons 4 Corvairs 3
Parker Forlin’s second goal of the game with under four minutes to play broke a 3-3 deadlock and gave the visiting Falcons the victory.
Glenney and Calvin Petrovsky also scored for St. Catharines. Boria, Nate Shirton and Schanbacher collected two assists each.
Berry made 34 saves for the win.
Ryan O’Donnell had two goals and Daniel Moro one for Caledonia.
Canucks 6 Meteors 3
The Niagara Falls Canucks stormed out to a 5-0 lead en route to a road win at the Leisureplex.
Will Bray and Alexander Hebblethwaite netted two goals each for the Canucks while Jake McKinstray and Benjamin Key also scored.
Joe Macchione had two goals and Luke Gualtieri one for the Meteors.
Mihailo Corovic made 43 saves for the win.
Smith (three goals, 13 shots) and Lane (two goals, 22 shots) split time in goal for the Mets.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
Caledonia at Hamilton, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Fort Erie at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Pelham at Niagara Falls, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Hamilton at Fort Erie, 7 p.m.
Thorold at Caledonia, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Caledonia at Pelham, 2:45 p.m.
St. Catharines at Niagara Falls, 3 p.m.
Thorold at Welland, 7 p.m.
End regular season
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