Falcons top Panthers, Meteors blank Sailors to advance
Brenden Anderson came through in the clutch for the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons Friday.
The veteran winger, who has experience at the Ontario Hockey League level, was brought it to be a go-to player on offence, a role in which he has flourished.
The 21-year-old native of Oshweken scored twice to lead the Falcons past the Pelham Panthers 4-2 at the Seymour-Hannah Sports Complex and take the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series 4-1.
Anderson scored late in the second period to tie the game at 2-2, then potted the winner at 15:34 of the third. Both goals came on the power play.
“It feels pretty good to contribute in a big playoff run, it’s pretty good to be able to do it now,” said Anderson, who had five goals and seven points in the series. “It’s my last year. It’s pretty hard to think about. I played basically five years of junior and it’s a little bit tough to think about. I don’t want to lose my last junior game so I just want to win everything I can.”
Anderson’s goals came against Pelham goaltender Patrick Sutherland, who had another solid game with 42 saves.
“Credit to Patrick Sutherland. He was here in the spring and we parted ways but I knew he was going to show up and make us eat our words on that and he did,” Falcons general/manager coach Tyler Bielby said. “He had a great series in the nets and we were really bugging Ando to get there, a really big guy, and get in his eyes tonight. He finally did and sure enough, two goals in the crease area just going to the net, that’s where good things happen in the playoffs.”
The Falcons outshot the Panthers 15-5 in a scoreless first period.
“I thought our first period was our best period of the year, never mind the series. It was 0-0, I don’t care about the score, I care about playing the right way,” Bielby said.
The Panthers grabbed a 2-0 lead on a pair of early goals in the second before the Falcons rallied.
“We came out a little slow in the second and allowed them to get some power plays and start getting a lead in the game but the resilience on our team, the way we blocked shots, the way we found a way to win, those are good signs going into the next round,” Bielby said.
Owen Simpson netted his second of the playoffs into an empty net to give the Falcons an insurance marker at 18:17.
Bielby was thrilled to see Simpson rewarded with a goal.
“He’s got a tear in his eye in the room because nobody cares about this game and this team more than Owen Simpson,” Bielby said. “Before the game, I had him stand up in front because he’s the only returning player from the Sutherland Cup team. They’ve been watching him practise and play like that all year.”
The Panthers, who lost all seven games to the Falcons in the regular season, gave St. Catharines all they could handle as a prohibitive underdog.
“I know you picked us in four in your playoff prediction but tip our caps to Pelham,” Bielby said. “I thought Zac (Pelham coach Zac Rinaldo) had his team playing real hard and disciplined and he was making real good adjustments and it was forcing us to make good adjustments. I appreciate the effort Pelham gave us this round. It made us better, that’s for sure.”
Rinaldo had no problem losing under the circumstances.
“I told them if there was a way I could choose to go out, it was exactly the way we did tonight,” Rindalo said. “I couldn’t ask for more from them. They can go to sleep tonight knowing they have no regrets. The worst thing in life is to have regret but they played every shift like it was going to be their last.”
Rinaldo feels the strong showing is a sign of things to come for the Panthers.
“The whole mantra of the season was to flip this organization into a competing organization and we made a huge step forward,” he said. “This playoff shone a light on who we are as an organization and what we demand as a coaching staff from our players and I think the returning players will already know what’s going on.”
Meteors 5 Sailors 0
The Fort Erie Meteors completed a sweep of the Port Colborne Sailors with a 5-0 win at Port Friday.
Associated player Jaden Flora scored twice for the Mets while Cameron Thorpe, R.J. Schmidt and Kyle Adamo also scored.
John Lloyd made 29 saves in net for the shutout, the third of the series for the Meteors.
“Good series. See Falcons next week,” Fort Erie general/manager coach Nik Passero said.
Passero had no other comment.
Falcon facts: Luke Gualtieri, Trent Vaillancourt, Jordan Marconi, Calvin Petrovsky, William Moore, Zach Mambella and Henry Attard were scratched for the Falcons . . . Owen Messina, Thomas Sefton, Riley Smyth, Liam McFarland and Carter Vicente did not dress for the Panthers.
STATS PACK
Falcons 4 Panthers 2
Falcons winger Brenden Anderson with a pair of goals.
St. Catharines Falcons: Brenden Anderson 2 (4, 5); Tyler Hunt (4); Owen Simpson (2).
Pelham Panthers: Connor Clark (1); Cooper Drennan (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Patrick Sutherland (47), by Pelham on Hayden Jeffery (25); Power plays: St. Catharines 3/6, Pelham 1/7; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 26; Pelham 14.
Attendance: 638.
Up next: The Falcons face the Fort Erie Meteors in Round 2 starting next week. Dates have yet to be determined.
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