Falcons bomb Caledon
Juan Agromayor appears to have found a home.
The 19-year-old Oakville native joined the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons in the off-season after stops in Listowel and Brantford and has provided the Falcons with a dependable, two-way forward.
Agromayor scored twice as the Falcons defeated the Caledon Bombers 8-1 in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League game Friday night in St. Catharines.
Agromayor, who now has 11 goals and 22 points in 39 games, enjoyed seeing a couple go in for him after some tough luck around the net earlier this season.
“Yeah, it felt great,” the 19-year-old Oakville native said. “Putting all the hard work into the season, maybe points didn’t go my way this year, but having a game like this where you get rewarded for the hard work, it feels good,” he said. “It’s not a credit to me, it’s a credit to my teammates and all the hard work I put in. Our cycle game got me those goals, nothing too pretty.”
Agromayor takes pride in his overall game.
“I feel like I’m a 200-foot guy,” he said. “Kind of give a pulse within the lineup, whether that be third line, fourth line, whatever. I just want to do my job. I know there’s guys on the team that can score and sometimes they need a little relief on the back end. That’s where guys like me come in and play a role. Set the pace and that’s going be huge in playoffs, so (we need) to play like we’re in playoffs right now.”
Agromayor said he has felt welcome in St. Catharines since Day 1 of training camp.
“I think the mindset and the culture here is something that aligns with me. I think everyone here wants to win and we got that in common. It’s not hard to gel with a team when you have that one goal in common.”
Agromayor, who plans to attend Brock next year, is an Oakville native but his family is from Argentina. In fact, Agromayor’s mother was pregnant with him when they came to Canada.
“My family wanted to come here for a better life,” he said. “I guess my dad just saw an opportunity and took it.”
Agromayor didn’t grow up in a hockey household, but became interested in the game.
“I was actually a rugby player my whole life, playing a little bit of soccer, but rugby was my main sport,” he said. “Kind of just living in Canada, my brother happened to stumble into hockey through friends and whatnot. And, you know, seeing as your older brother does, you follow.”
Falcons president of hockey operations and head coach Tyler Bielby likes what Agromayor brings to the table.
“He’s a player that plays 200 feet and he’s willing to do what it takes to help his team,” Bielby said. “He’s not worried about his individual stats, he’s worried about team success and that’s why we really like having him. He told me he was paying attention to Elite Prospects (stats website) the first few years of his career. Now he’s paying attention to winning.”
The Falcons dominated from start to finish, outshooting the last-place Bombers 47-13.
“I thought we really spread out their D-Zone and had sustainable pressure in their end,” Bielby said. “We scored eight, probably could have scored 15. Tough game, but they found a way to show up.”
The Falcons, 33-9-1-1, lead Ayr by five points for first place with six games remaining in the regular season. The Centennials have a game in hand.
The Bombers are 2-39-1-0.
The Falcons are in Caledonia Saturday before playing host to the Corvairs Monday at 2 p.m. Admission is $5 with fans under 12 free. Following the game there will be a free family skate with the players.
Falcon facts: Luke Gualtieri, Dillon Atkinson, Jordan Marconi, Matt Fries and Hayden Jeffery were scratched for the Falcons.
STATS PACK
Falcons 8 Bombers 1
St. Catharines forward Juan Agromayor with a pair of goals.
St. Catharines Falcons: Treyson Dewar 2 (22,23); Juan Agromayor 2 (10,11); Cameron Lowe (15); Samuel Mudie (10); Liam Fisher (4); Luca Santostefano (3).
Caledon Bombers: Lui Indzers (12).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Nolan Godfrey (47), by Caledon on Jacob Ceranic (13); Power plays: St. Catharines 2/2, Caledon 1/3; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 15; Caledon 11.
Attendance: 246.
Up next: The Falcons head to Caledonia Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and are home Monday to the Corvairs at 2 p.m.
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