Falcons bounce back
Nick Volpatti came to play Friday night, and his timing couldn’t have been better.
The 20-year-old Welland native fired two goals to pace the St. Catharines Falcons past the Thorold Blackhawks 6-3 in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference game at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Falcons, who dropped a pair of tough decisions to the Niagara Falls Canucks last week.
“It feels good for the boys in the dressing room,” Voplatti said. “It was a big stepping stone. Coach talked about the playoffs start tonight. We lost those two games to the Falls and the one to Hamilton so it was nice to get the boys back on track.”
Volpatti turned in his usual hard-working, two-way effort in addition to his two goals.
“I try to work hard and stay on the ice, I feel that’s when I’m most effective for the team,” Volpatti said. “I know coach has been stressing to say disciplined and as a 20-year-old you have to lead by example.”
Volpatti’s two goals give him 23 on the season, second only to captain Curtis Egert’s 25.
“I’m very happy,” said Volpatti, who spent last season at the junior C level in Chippawa. “A lot of people didn’t probably think I would put up that. I didn’t think so at the start of the season but you work hard, you get rewarded.”
Volpatti’s effort has endeared him to Falcons coach Tyler Bielby.
“He was a walk-on, tryout guy,” Bielby said. “It’s great. That’s what keeps guys like me coming back, those kind of stories.
“He’s just relentless. He never stops.”
The Falcons maintained their level of discipline taking only five minor penalties after losing their cool versus the Canucks last week.
“We talk about it as a team all the time, when the other team takes more penalties than us, 99 per cent of the time this year we’ve won the hockey game. It’s that simple,” Bielby said. “It can only be one more penalty, but we win hockey games if they sit in the box more than we do, and they did tonight.”
The Falcons managed to walk a fine line between aggression and carelessness.
“I thought tonight we threw a lot of nice hits, but they were clean,” Bielby said. “There’s nothing to look at. It was shoulder to chest and you can do that in this league.”
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead early in the second when Owen Holmes batted a puck out of the air past Blair Coffin. The Falcons then responded with a pair of late goals to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The Falcons extend their lead to 4-1 in the second before the Blackhawks got one back late in the period on the power play to trail 4-2. The Falcons responded with a goal by Volpatti with eight seconds remaining to take a 5-2 lead into the third.
Noah Fortuna replaced Chase Grsic in net for Thorold to begin the third and the Blackhawks quickly struck for a goal, but Volpatti’s second later in the period put the game out of reach.
“We liked our first period, even after 40 minutes,” Thorold coach Scott Barnes said. “A couple of mistakes and it was in the back of our net.
“We were missing some key D. I don’t like to lose but I thought we played a really good game tonight.”
Falcons facts: Xavier Drummond (2 of 2), Matt Barazin (2 of 9), Carter Geoffroy and Noah Blakely did not dress for the Falcons . . . Ethan Mercer, Alex Blanchard, and Nick Gidney were scratched for the Blackhawks . . . At Niagara Falls Friday, the Canucks edged the Pelham Panthers 3-2 in double overtime. Andrew Bruno scored the winner while Danial Singer and Jaleel Adams added singles. Wyatt Thole and Lucas Smith replied for the Panthers.
Falcons 6 Blackhawks 3
BPSN Star of the Game: St. Catharines forward Nick Volpatti with a pair of goals.
St. Catharines Falcons: Volpatti 2 (22, 23); Thomas Lenart (19); Cail Cirillo (16); Max Lightfoot (8); Brady Caruso (3).
Thorold Blackhawks: Nicholas Rubino (20); Cam Lightfoot (11); Owen Holmes (8);
Game stats: Shots on goal: by St. Catharines on Chase Grsic/Noah Fortuna (29), by Thorold on Blair Coffin (20); Power plays: St. Catharines 1-for-6, Thorold 2-for-5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 10, Thorold 12.
Attendance: 522.
Up next: The Falcons are off until the host Caledonia next Friday. The Blackhawks host Pelham Thursday.
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