Weekend junior B roundup: Panthers stumble; Falcons, Mets win twice
The Pelham Panthers continue to confound and frustrate Zac Rinaldo.
The head coach and assistant general manager of the Pelham Panthers watched his club get off to a tough start this season with only one win in their first 11 games. The Panthers then rebounded to win three of their next five, including an upset victory over the St. Catharines Falcons.
But just as it seemed things were going in the right direction, the Panthers have once again fallen into a funk.
Pelham dropped a 5-2 decision at home Sunday afternoon to the Brantford Titans on the heels of a 3-1 defeat at Fort Erie Saturday night and now sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League with a 4-12-3 record.
“We definitely have to look at personnel and see what’s interchangeable, see what we’re lacking, see what we can do to strengthen our back end, to strengthen up front,” Rinaldo said. “We need to reassess everything to a degree and just take a real strong look at the depth of where we are on the back side of things and just kind of go from there.
“Unfortunate part was we were trending in the right way.”
Rinaldo admits it’s difficult to make meaningful changes at this stage of the season.
“It’s challenging because we’re at a point now where if we wanted to change personnel, if we wanted to shake up certain things, we’re kind of handcuffed with where we are in the standings and the value of some players isn’t really there,” he said. “We don’t really hold many valuable cards in our deck right now but we’re definitely going to be looking to make some changes, 100 per cent.”
Rinaldo believes many of his charges need an attitude adjustment.
“In the last two weeks, all of our analytics and our statistics when it comes to expected goals for and shots on net and our penalty kill percentage and our power play expected goals and power play percent, they’re in the top 10 in the league,” he said. “So when it comes down to it, it’s just the will to win and the hate to lose mentality. And we can’t, for some reason, bring that every night. And I just think we have a very complacent group. We have a very great organization. And we give everything to these kids, win or lose.”
Rinaldo confessed at times he finds it difficult dealing with today’s athletes.
“I think this generation feels they are entitled to a lot of things. Just because you’re playing junior hockey you’re entitled to so many things and to a degree the world has made these players feel that way,” he said. “When you lose it’s not sunshine and rainbows but sometimes if you don’t make it sunshine and rainbows for these kids they go down into a dark place and we can’t afford for our kids to go down that dark place. It’s being on that fine line of making them comfortable every day without hurting their feelings so they don’t spiral down. It’s a very delicate situation that we’re dealing with right now.
“I gotta come here every day, almost be a cheerleader for these guys and keep their spirits high and stuff like that. So I’m learning a lot on a human design type of situation and a personal side of things. This kind of goes beyond hockey right now where I’m figuring my group out and on a personal level.”
Dylan Leslie had both Pelham goals Sunday. The teams were tied 2-2 early in the third period but the Titans reeled off three straight in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“It’s very frustrating when you’re so close and you don’t have a team that can understand the time and the score and the delicacy of every single play,” Rinaldo said.
Falcons take care of business
The St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons made it four wins in a row to improve to 14-5 with a pair of victories.
The Falcons rallied from a 3-0 deficit to top the Caledonia Corvairs Saturday.
Cameron Lowe had a pair of goals (7, 8) to lead the Falcons while Treyson Dewar (11), Marcus Harris (4) and Lachlan Suchar (2) added singles.
Ethan Brassard (6), Tyler Clark (5) and Drew Agnew (5) replied for the Corvairs.
Hayden Jeffery made 31 saves for the win while former Falcon Cal Gardner made 32 saves in net for Caledonia.
Caledonia spent 77 minutes in the penalty box, St. Catharines 30.
Thursday in Hamilton, the Falcons topped the Kilty B’s 5-3 as Nathan Duplessis (11,12) had two goals while Lowe, Ally Mostafaie (5) and Brendan Grenville (3) scored.
Jonny Brooks (8, 9) and Evan Krell (2) replied for Hamilton.
Gabriel Longo made 22 saves for the win.
“Happy with our four-point week,” Falcons president of hockey operations and head coach Tyler Bielby said. “We were tested with adversity in both games, but proud of the way the boys stuck with the game plan and walked away with the wins. If you want to be successful in this league, you have to be ready to compete night in and night out. Though there were hills and valleys in both games, we finished both games the right way. Good sign as we get closer to approaching the halfway mark.”
The Falcons have a rematch with the Corvairs Friday at home.
“We will have a good week of practice and work towards a full 60 minutes when Cali comes to town,” Bielby said.
Meteors win a pair
The Fort Erie Meteors won twice, topping the visiting Panthers 3-1 Saturday after a 3-1 win at Port Colborne Friday.
Derek Smyth (3), Sam Tonelli (10) and Tate Donald (4) scored for the Mets versus Port.
Jake Salvatore (6) netted the lone Sailors goal.
Finn Moffett made 33 saves for the win.
R.J. Schmidt (5), Rylan Masterson (3) and Tonelli (11) scored against Pelham while John Lloyd kicked out 27 shots for the win.
Francesco Sanita (4) replied for the Falcons.
Logan Snyder made a whopping 54 saves in a losing cause.
In other games this weekend, Hamilton edged Port 5-4 in overtime and the Welland Junior Canadians 4-1 Sunday night.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
Ayr at Hamilton, 7:07 p.m.
Port Colborne at Brantford, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Caledonia at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Caledon at Port Colborne, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Pelham at Caledonia, 7:30 p.m.
Welland at Caledon, 8 p.m.
SUNDAY
Pelham at Ayr, 2:30 p.m.
Cambridge at Pelham, 2:45 p.m.
Brantford at Welland, 7 p.m.
STANDINGS
EAST
1. Ayr 14-3-28
2. St. Catharines 14-5-28
3. Fort Erie 12-5-1-25
4. Cambridge 11-6-1-1-24
5. Caledonia 10-7-2-22
6. Hamilton 10-8-2-22
7. Port Colborne 9-7-1-1-20
8. Brantford 6-11-1-13
9. Welland 5-13-1-11
10. Pelham 4-12-3-11
11. Caledon 1-17-2
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