Undermanned Falcons fall to London

There was a familiar face back in the lineup for the St. Catharines Falcons Friday night, along with a handful of unfamiliar names.

Speedy forward Chris Reid made his return to Falcons after beginning the season with the Niagara Falls Canucks of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

“It’s wonderful to be back,” Reid said following a 4-1 loss to the London Nationals in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Seymour Hannah Sports Complex. “My first year I won it with them and I knew I wanted to come back and it was the right move at this time.”

Reid had two solid seasons is his first two junior campaigns before moving up to the OJHL where he had three assists in 19 games.

“It didn’t work out for me. It wasn’t my style of play there,” Reid said. “I was off to a rough start and felt like I wanted to come back. Tyler (general manager/coach Bielby) was happy take me back and I’m just happy it worked out.

“Everyone is just wonderful here.”

Reid, who is in Grade 12B at Saint Paul Catholic High School in Niagara Falls, plans to major in concurrent education next year at Brock, which also factored into his decision.

He doesn’t regret the experience, but is happy to be back in red and white.

“It was fun up there, a different level of hockey,” Reid said. “Way faster. It was different, but at the same time, it wasn’t because there it still hitting and skating and stuff.”

Falcons assistant coach Matt Miller said the organization is thrilled to have a player of Reid’s talent back.

“There is obviously an adjustment period for him with difference of systems and difference of structures and being thrown into a top-six role, a lot more minutes,” said Miller, who subbed in as head coach for the suspended Bielby. “Chris is going to be crucial for us. He’s been there before. His experience speaks for itself. He’s a Sutherland Cup winner as a 16-year-old. We’re going to lean on Chris a lot and we’re excited to have him back.”

Reid’s teammates were a mishmash of players as the Falcons were without nine regulars and pieced together a lineup as best they could.

“At the end of the day, it’s hockey and you go through peaks and valleys and adversity and right now we’re in a valley from a personnel standpoint,” Miller said. “We have suspensions and injuries so you kind of throw it into a blender. We had a good week of practice trying out some lines.

“It makes it more difficult, for sure. When you have a healthy lineup it’s easier and more fun.”

Miller said the message to the team was to simplify the game.

“Less is more,” Miller said. “We went over structure and it’s all about puck management.”

The Falcons fell behind 1-0 in the first and then got down 3-1 after two, but had a handful of good chances to score.

“We have a lot of guys banged up, a lot of guys sick, but that’s not an excuse for not capitalizing when we had our chances,” Miller said. “That’s what stings. If we put a couple of those away early, completely different game.”

Falcon facts: Cal Reesor, Mitch Dmytrow, Trent Vaillancourt, Ben Smith, Tyler Hunt, Calvin Petrovsky, Treyson Dewar, Zack Mambella and Henry Attard did not dress for the Falcons . . . Former Falcon Colton Chipman was held off the scoresheet but is having a solid season with 10 goals and 13 points for the Nets.

Nationals 4 Falcons 1

London’s Riley Wood with three points.

St. Catharines Falcons: Caleb Thompson (12).

London Nationals: Riley Wood (6); Nolan Milne (5); Nolan Baldwin (4); Lucas Chard (4).

Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Hayden Sabourin (45), by London on Hayden Jeffery (34); Power plays: St. Catharines 0/4, London 0/3; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 8, London 10.

Attendance: 483.

Up next: The Falcons are in Cambridge Saturday and back home next Friday to face Caledonia.

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