Falcons blank Kilty B’s; Titans top Ayr in OT
Hayden Jeffery made 25 saves for the shutout as the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons blanked the Hamilton Kilty B’s 5-0 Thursday. File photo: BILL POTRECZ
The St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons are one win away from advancing to the semifinals following a solid 5-0 win over the Hamilton Kilty B’s Thursday night at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena.
The Falcons lead the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series 3-1 and can put the Kilty B’s away with a win in Game 5 Friday at home.
Following a scoreless first period, the Falcons scored three times in the middle frame on goals from Dallys Hibbert, Dillon Atkinson and Brendan Grenville.
Nathan Duplessis and Trent Gates added goals in the third.
“It was the first period on the road that was scoreless and I thought our emotions were getting a little bit of the best of us,” Falcons president of hockey operations/head coach Tyler Bielby said. “We checked that in between the first and second period and really rolled from there.
“It was a good team win.”
Bielby singled out midget call-up Easton Poirier for a strong game with a couple of assists as well as Zach Lowe, younger brother of captain Cam Lowe.
“Zach made his debut tonight and did a real rock solid job on the blueline for us,” Bielby said.
The Falcons took advantage of 19 Hamilton infractions, scoring a pair of power-play goals.
The Kilty B’s went scoreless in eight opportunities with the man advantage.
Hayden Jeffery made 25 saves to earn the shutout.
“The boys did a great job defending for the most part tonight but he (Jeffery) made some real timely saves and was forced to make those saves in moments where we wanted to continue to build on the lead and I think that’s what playoff hockey is all about,” Bielby said.
Bielby acknowledged he would love to see the series come to an end Friday.
“The first round is scheduled a little longer than usual so it would be nice to put our head down and get to work tomorrow and get back to practice and work,” he said. “But at the end of the day, Hamilton’s given us everything they’ve got in every game we’ve played. We expect no difference tomorrow and we’re going to have to be ready to play.”
The Falcons fired 37 shots at Hamilton goaltender Avery Alves.
Titans 3 Centennials 2 OT
Kaleb Frank scored halfway through the first overtime period to give the Brantford Titans a 3-2 win over the Ayr Centennials and a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.
Ethan Szabo and Quinton Kim-Lemay scored for the Titans in regulation while
Austin Keleher and Mitchell Ferras replied for Ayr.
Game 4 is Sunday at Brantford.
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