Weekend junior B roundup: Falcons scuffling; Meteors raise $25,000
The Fort Erie Meteors defeated the St. Catharines Falcons 6-5 Saturday. Photo by: ALEC MURRAY.
The St. Catharines Falcons are in a funk.
The defending regular season champions have dropped three games in a row to fall to 17-7-1-1.
The Falcons began their slide with a 5-3 loss at Welland Dec. 3, then dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime at home to the Junior Canadians Friday before losing 6-5 at Fort Erie Saturday.
The Falcons have been dealing with a multitude of injuries, but general manager/head coach Tyler Bielby didn’t want to point to that as the season for the recent slide.
“We have a lot of trust in all the players we are putting on the ice and believe that any player on any given night that is putting a uniform on can help get us wins,” Bielby said.
The Falcons are missing key rearguards Luke Gualtieri (lower body), Mitch Dmytrow (leg), Trent Vaillancourt (knee) and Zach Mambella (upper body) and have had others on the sidelines as well.
“The injuries are week to week, not day to day,” Bielby said. “(There is a) lack of chemistry and not being able to practice with the same guys and dealing with some of the adversity we have had with the injury bug we have had over the last several months.”
Bielby feels his team needs to be more disciplined as well.
“That being said, we just have be better. In the last three games we have done things to beat ourselves and those are things we have to clean up and a part of the process and the journey at the halfway point of the season to make sure we’re not doing those same things a couple of months from now.”
Bielby also gave props to the Junior Canadians and the Meteors.
“Credit to the teams that have got in our way the last three games. Credit to Welland who we thought put together a couple of great games and made us be honest and beat ourselves,” he said. “We have to stay out of the box. We can say there’s too many penalties being called from time to time, but at the same time, we’re taking them. It’s important we take ownership of that.”
Bielby feels dealing with so much misfortune could be a benefit in the long run.
“I think adversity will always build character, it’s just whether you can work through it,” he said. “We just have to keep putting the work in and driving forward. I never want to say these injuries we’re dealing with are a good thing, but as we learn to navigate through them, it will make us stronger as a team.”
In the 6-5 loss to the Meteors, the Falcons scored all five goals on the power play but also gave up four goals shorthanded as they spent 34 minutes in the penalty box.
Kyle Adamo paced the Mets with three goals while former Falcon Zach Mizzi, Cam Robillard and Cameron Golovin added singles.
John Lloyd made 28 saves for the win.
Tyler Hunt, just back from an extended stay on the injured list, had three goals an assist for St. Catharines while Caleb Thompson and Brenden Anderson also scored.
Corvairs 4 Kilty B’s 1
Michael Derbidge scored a pair of goals as the Caledonia Corvairs edged the visiting Hamilton Kilty B’s Saturday night.
Noah Baltzer and Markus Dempewolf, with his 16th of the season, also scored for the winners.
Brett Henderson had the lone Hamilton goal.
Keegan Jackson made 20 saves for the win.
Vlad Visan faced 42 shots in goal for the Kilty B’s.
SUNDAY
Corvairs 6 Panthers 0
Davis Penner made 31 saves for the shutout as the Corvairs blanked the Pelham Panthers Sunday afternoon in Pelham.
Tyler Savard and Nathan Duplessis each scored twice while Owen Rainey and Dempewolf added singles.
Carter Vicente faced 45 shots for Pelham.
Junior Canadians 3 Sailors 2 OT
Joshua Cacciola scored 4:49 into overtime to give the Welland Junior Canadians a win over the visiting Port Colborne Sailors.
Cooper Reid scored twice in regular for Welland while Andrew Welch made 43 saves for the win.
Sam Tonelli and Andrew Kennedy replied for the Sailors.
Former Falcon Trevor Lariviere and ex-NHL forward Chris Gratton have taken over behind the bench for Welland following the resignation of head coach Don Herrington. Assistant Brady Afelskie and goaltender coach Tyler LeClair are remaining on staff.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
Kokomo at Hamilton, 7 p.m.
St. Catharines at Ayr, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Elmira at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Cambridge at Port Colborne, 7:30 p.m.
Fort Erie at St. Mary’s, 7:30 p.m.
Welland at Pelham, 7:45 p.m.
SATURDAY
Pelham at Brantford, 5 p.m.
London at Fort Erie, 7 p.m.
St. Thomas at Caledonia, 7:30 p.m.
Welland at Strathroy, 7:30 p.m.
Port Colborne at Caledon, 8 p.m.
SUNDAY
Caledonia at Elmira, 2 p.m.
Listowel at Pelham, 2:45 p.m.
Hamilton at Chatham, 4 p.m.
St. Mary’s at Welland, 7 p.m.
STANDINGS
1. Caledonia 24-3-0-1-49
2. Fort Erie 22-5-0-0-44
3. St. Catharines 17-7-1-1-36
4. Hamilton 10-14-4-0-24
5. Port Colborne 9-13-4-1-23
6. Pelham 9-17-0-1-19
7. Welland 7-18-2-0-16
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