Falcons blank Junior Canadians
Jacob Kelly finally got the monkey off his back.
The 18-year-old Barrie native was expected to provide the St. Catharines Falcons with another solid scorer when he arrived from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but it has taken a couple of weeks for the talented forward to acclimatize himself to a new team in a new league.
Kelly fired his first two goals as a Falcon Friday in a 6-0 win over the Welland Junior Canadians in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference game at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
The win improves St. Catharines’ record to 32-4-0-2 and
The Junior Canadians, who are suffering through a miserable season, fell to 8-28-0-4.
Kelly was relieved to finally pot a couple, after collecting three assists in his first five games.
“It’s tough coming to a new team and getting into a groove, but hopefully now that I’ve got a couple I can get a lot more now,” he said. “It felt really good to score.”
Kelly quickly noticed the difference between the QMJHL and the GOJHL.
“The speed and how the game is played, it’s played different here than I’m used to,” he said. “It was more wide open (in the QMJHL), but we have one of the smaller ice surfaces so it’s more physical with later hits and more stick work.
“It’s getting into the battles more and the pucks will go in.”
Falcons general manager/coach Frank Girhiny loves Kelly’s skill set.
“He’s coming from 35 goals last year (with Elliot Lake of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League) but he spent most of this year with Rimouski where he didn’t play a lot and didn’t get a lot of touches,” he said. “Him scoring is good for him and good for the team and I would expect more of that as the season goes on.”
Kelly played with Xavier Drummond and Noah Blakely on an effective unit which combined for four goals and eight points.
“He’s a shooter but he also moves the puck and is a very headsy player,” Girhiny said. “He has a very high hockey IQ. The line tonight was very good moving the puck.”
The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one and then tacked on two more in the third.
With big games Saturday in the Falls and Sunday afternoon in Pelham, the Falcons were careful not to look ahead.
“We did some good things for sure,” Girhiny said. “We wanted to play within the moment and we didn’t want to take a lot of penalties where we had to kill a lot and use our energy.
“That’s one of three and now we get ready for Niagara Falls.”
Noah Battaglia made 27 saves for the shutout.
Falcon facts: Christian Girhiny, Joseph Colasurdo and Dawson McKinney did not dress for the Falcons. Midgets Kyle Glenney and James Gowland were recalled to fill out the roster . . . Erik Nelson, Jaret Olbruck, Anthony Vigliatore and Dryden Rivet were scratched for the Junior Canadians . . . Former Falcon Riley Sheahan was dealt from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Florida Panthers Friday.
Falcons 6 Junior Canadians 0
BPSN Star of the Game: St. Catharines forward Jacob Roach with two goals.
St. Catharines Falcons: Roach 2 (24, 25); Jacob Kelly 2 (1, 2); Xavier Drummond (12); Noah Blakely (11).
Welland Junior Canadians: No scoring.
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Carter Kurcz (54), by Welland on Noah Battaglia (27); Power plays: St. Catharines 0-for-3, Welland 0-for-4; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 18, Welland 6.
Attendance: 456
Up next: The Falcons are at Niagara Falls Saturday at 7 p.m. and Pelham Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Canucks 8 Blackhawks 7 (2OT)
The Canucks kept pace with the Falcons with a wild double overtime win at home Friday.
Andrew Bruno’s third goal of the game, 30 seconds into the second overtime, was the winner.
Justin Kyle added two goals while Mitch Mendonca, Dillon Hill and Ryan Donovan also scored.
Niagara Falls leads St. Catharines by one point for first. The Falcons own a game in hand.
Riley Sutherland and Cam Lightfoot had two each for the Hawks, who rallied from a 6-4 deficit to tie the game a 6-6 and again later at 7-7.
Mario Zitella, Jonathan Balah and Daniel Rocco also scored for the Hawks.
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