Falcons tame Corvairs
Dillon Atkinson has quickly become a favourite of Tyler Bielby.
The president of hockey operations and head coach of the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons was effusive in his praise of the 16-year-old rookie centre following a strong outing in a 5-1 win over the Caledonia Corvairs Friday night.
“I’ve got to be careful with words like this because he’s only 16 years old, but he might be the most responsible player that’s ever come through my dressing room,” Bielby said. “This kid’s a hockey player. He cares more about how he plays off the puck than he does on the puck. That doesn’t happen often at that age.
“He has the respect of the whole room because of the way he plays.”
Atkinson, who played last season for the Niagara North Stars U16 AAA squad, was overlooked in the Ontario Hockey League draft.
“A lot of people got it wrong last year,” Bielby said, “I’ve been saying it for a while. This kid is a hockey player already at 16. He only deserves to keep moving up and he should be in the OHL for four years. He’ll be one of the most responsible players in the league.
“A lot of kids come to us to try and make our team. There’s some draft picks, kids that were just drafted, like a month before our spring skates. We decided to go with the undrafted kid because, once again, he just plays the right way.”
Atkinson, who played one game for the Falcons last season, credits the organization for his smooth move up the hockey ladder.
“It’s been hard but the boys make it so easy,” he said. “I’ve got a good group in there (helping me) adjust to the game and getting up to speed,” he said. “The coach has really gotten it into my mind early, that I’m just doing my part, like killing penalties, whatever it takes. Just understanding my role on this team and just kind of taking defence first and then helping when I can on offence as well.”
Atkinson, a native of Saugeen Shores, moved south last season in an attempt to play with better competition and receive more exposure.
“There’s lots of competition. They’re a lot stronger than last year,” Atkinson said. “So I was just kind of bearing down on my stick and getting stronger, getting tougher.”
Atkinson, who attends Sir Winston Churchill, admits he misses home.
“It’s definitely tough, but my billet family makes it so easy. And then having these boys. I come to the rink, you feel so welcome, so it’s been good.”
The win was the fifth in a row for the Falcons who improve to 15-5 and are tied with the Ayr Centennials for first place in the Eastern Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The Centennials own two games in hand.
“Proud of our goaltender, proud of all six defencemen,” Bielby said. “They just love to soak (block) pucks and defend. I thought they did that. They got pucks out in timely matters. And then our forwards tonight, four lines, all four of them went. We scored a beautiful goal off the cycle with our fourth line.
“Extremely happy. Back to back (versus Caledonia), good discipline. They played for the crest and we competed through the last two games. Everybody contributed.”
Bielby pointed to the return of veteran winger Matt Fries from injury as a catalyst to the club’s recent strong play.
“It’s no mistake that our team has just changed its identity a little bit since the return of Matt Fries. I mean, he does so many things well, he’s a leader. Getting him back in our lineup gave us a bit of an extra step. I think just as a unit we’re rolling right now, but we’ve got to keep our focus.”
St. Catharines jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period. Two of the goals came off the stick of former Corvair Nathan Duplessis, who leads the Falcons with 14 goals.
Falcon facts: Kaleb Lyttleton, Jordan Marconi, Luca Santostefano and Gabriel Longo were scratched for the Falcons . . . Harry Pollard-Dall, Ryan Gardner-O’Keefe, Ethan Royer, Brody Leet, Connor Doerbecker and Cal Gardner did not dress for the Corvairs.
STATS PACK
Falcons 5 Corvairs 1
Dillon Atkinson with his second goal of the season.
St. Catharines Falcons: Nathan Dupelessis 2 (13, 14); Ally Mostafaie (6); Marcus Harris (5); Dillon Atkinson (2).
Caledonia Corvairs: Zachary Naherne (2).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Keegan Jackson (30), by Caledonia on Hayden Jeffery (31); Power plays: St. Catharines 2/6, Caledonia 1/5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 12; Caledonia 24.
Attendance: 425.
Up next: The Falcons are home to Caledon next Friday.
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