Weekend junior B roundup: Grenville happy at home; Falcons edge Corvairs; Mets blank Sailors
Brendan Grenville has fit in perfectly with the Pelham Panthers.
The Panthers acquired the Pelham resident from the Port Colborne Sailors as part of a nine-player blockbuster deal and the 20-year-old forward has been a huge shot in the arm for the team.
“It’s my hometown,” Grenville said. “It feels good to play here. It’s close to home, lots of family can come to my games, lots of buddies.
“I like it here so far. Port Colborne was going down the road of getting rid of a lot of their players and I found a destination here and I’m happy.”
The Panthers shipped Jacob Raposo, Nick Tymochenko, Val Johnston, Carson Bennett and Ryan Haeney to the Sailors in exchange for Grenville, Aiden Cupelli, Brendan Grenville, Liam Wicks and defenceman Christian Williams.
Grenville welcomed the move.
“I knew they had a hard-working team and the potential to fill roles with players who can put points on the board so they brought in some pretty high-end talent,” Grenville said. “I believe we can definitely shock some teams. We’re a hard-working team. We’re stingy. We wait around and pounce on our opportunities. We’re a hard team to play against.”
Panthers general manager Emelie Ficht loves what Grenville brings to the organization, on and off the ice.
“We knew about him. We obviously thought he was a great player and a local player so it was really important to get him here if we could,” Ficht said.
“(He brings) a sense of leadership, he’s a veteran presence and he’s a 200-foot player that puts in effort every game, gives 100 per cent all the time, 200 per cent honestly. It’s been a huge difference having that veteran presence. There’s more communication, you can see it in the dressing room. It’s been really positive.”
Pelham owner Wes Gee feels the influx of talent and experience added with the trade was necessary.
“Mix, I think, is probably the most important thing if you want to build a consistently competitive organization,” Gee said. “You just keep rolling the mix along. I know some organizations want the maximum number of 20-year-olds every year and they roll through lineups. We want to be more committed to the kids in terms of their development. We’re trying to find the perfect fix where we can be competitive.”
Grenville, whose father, Chris Grenville, also played at the junior B level for the Thorold Blackhawks and Niagara Falls Canucks before a long career as a professional player, has been placed in a go-to offensive role playing on a line with Cupelli and Caleb MacLeish.
“It’s nice. I wouldn’t say it was given to me, I’ve had to work hard,” he said. “Zac (head coach Zac Rinaldo) believes in me and I believe in my skills that I can help the team.”
Brendan Grenville loves playing for Rinaldo, a former NHL winger who skated for five teams.
“It’s awesome. Our practices are unreal. Practice almost feels harder than the games and that’s how it should be. He makes sure our diets are good and we’re working out consistently. He treats us like we’re NHL players.”
The Panthers split a pair of weekend games, topping the Welland Junior Canadians 4-1 Friday night before falling 3-1 at home to the Caledonia Corvairs Sunday afternoon and have moved up to fifth place in the standings.
Grenville, MacLeish, Mac Schaubel and Noah Aboflan scored in the win over Welland. Aidan Thomson made 32 saves for the win.
Aboflan had the lone goal versus the Corvairs.
Markus Dempewolf, Brayden Russell and Noah Baltzer replied for Caledonia.
SATURDAY
Falcons 5 Corvairs 4 OT
Rookie Noah Read scored the winner 2:53 into overtime as the St. Catharines Falcons edged the Caledonia Corvairs at the Haldimand Centre.
“Always nice when your 16-year-old wins it on Saturday in Caledonia,” Falcons general manager/coach Tyler Bielby said. “We have a lot of experienced players, but it’s always nice to see the kid win it for the boys at the end.”
Grayson Gare, Tyler Hunt, Brenden Anderson and Caleb Thompson also scored for the Falcons.
“Great team win,” Bielby said. “There is not a player tonight that we weren’t proud of. We played a full 60 minutes and left it all on the ice. We were rewarded for playing the game the right way. Shout out to out to our blueline this weekend who had their best back-to-back games in a long time. They were our anchor and a big part of the four points.”
Dempewolf, Jayden Lammek, Clark Dunford and Ryan O’Keefe replied for Caledonia.
Hayden Jeffery made 44 saves for the win.
Meteors 7 Sailors 0
Cameron Robillard had two goals and an assist while Blake Hall had a goal and three assists as the Fort Erie Meteors blanked the Port Colborne Sailors at the Leisureplex.
Kyle Adamo, Caleb Bidgood, Georgy Toropysev and Rylan Masterson added singles.
John Lloyd made saves for the shutout.
SUNDAY
Junior Canadians 3 Kilty B’s 2
Cooper Reid and Jack Ryan scored in the third period as the Welland Junior Canadians rallied past the Hamilton Kilty B’s at the Welland Arena.
Joshua Cacciola also scored for Welland.
Kaleb Frank and Jack Seney replied for Hamilton.
Andrew Welch made 35 saves for the win.
THIS WEEK
WEDNESDAY
Hamilton at London, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY
Cambridge at Hamilton, 7 p.m.
Caledonia at Sarnia, 7:10 p.m.
Port Colborne at Ayr, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Waterloo at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Brantford at Port Colborne, 7:30 p.m.
Fort Erie at St. Thomas, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
St. Catharines at Brantford, 5 p.m.
Caledon at Fort Erie, 7 p.m.
Welland at Komoka, 7:15 p.m.
Stratford at Caledonia, 7:30 p.m.
Pelham at Strathroy, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
St. Mary’s at Pelham, 2:45 p.m.
St. Thomas at Welland, 7 p.m.
STANDINGS
1. Caledonia 28-7-1-1-58
2. Fort Erie 28-8-1-0-57
3. St. Catharines 27-10-1-1-56
4. Hamilton 18-18-4-0-40
5. Pelham 13-24-1-1-28
6. Welland 12-26-2-0-26
7. Port Colborne 10-23-4-1-25
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 5,700 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
