Falcons draw first blood

The coaching staff of the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons hockey team played a hunch Saturday night.

It resulted in the game-winning goal in a 4-2 road victory over the Fort Erie Meteors in Game 1 of their Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League best-of-seven semifinal playoff matchup.

With the game tied 2-2 in the third period, 16-year-old rookie Easton Lynds made an impressive rush before dishing the puck off to fellow rookie Noah Read, who made no mistake on the play.

“Those two boys played together in minor hockey their whole lives and we made decision as coaches to put them together tonight just to see if they could be raw, full of piss and vinegar and just go play,” Falcons head coach Tyler Bielby said.

He couldn’t say enough about Lynds’ effort.

“That’s confidence for an AP player in a full arena. He got the puck in his own zone and he went end-to-end and finds his best friend forever for the winning goal. That is what it is about.”

Bielby couldn’t think of a better player to score the winning goal.

“Noah reminds us every day that we are playing a kids’ game. He has a huge love for the game and it’s natural. He is always smiling and he just wants to be on the ice and playing the game. He had a great game for us tonight.”

It was Read’s first career junior playoff goal.

“It felt pretty nice. Easton gave me a great pass like he did all of last year and I was able to put it away and get the win.”

Read and Lynds go way back.

“I played spring hockey with Easton growing up and then I played all year with him last season in our draft year. He has been one of my best friends my whole life and we are very tight,” Read said. “We seem to have pretty good chemistry and we worked well together tonight.”

Despite being a rookie, Read is not intimidated.

“I don’t think about me being a rookie here on the ice. I just try to focus on my game and not let people get to me.”

The Fort Erie coaching staff was not pleased with its team play Saturday night.

“It was not a great effort,” assistant coach Anthony Passero said. “I thought the hockey game itself was no good. Our power play got one, their power play got one which helped each team and at the end of the day our team had a chance to shut it down in the third and we couldn’t do it. We’re going to learn a big lesson about that tonight.”

Passero felt the Meteors weren’t ready to play.

“You can’t blame the week off. They had a week off too. We had a whole week to prepare for these guys. In the second, we are probably outplaying them and then in the third you give up a bad short-handed goal and bang, they come right back. We weren’t ready to battle back after that and then just a terrible penalty at the end of the game which put us behind the eight ball.”

That penalty saw the Meteors pull the goalie late while short-handed in an unsuccessful attempt to tie the game.

Passero is confident the Meteors can rebound.

“We finished in second place for a reason and we are at the top of the league for a reason and these guys have to find it. It can’t come from us every night. It has to come from within and I think we have the guys to realize what they did tonight in a missed opportunity at home. If they want to keep this thing going as they say they do, they are going to have to find it Monday.”

Bielby was happy with two thirds of the game.

“I love our first and I loved our third and I hated our second period. It’s the same old story,” he said. “In the second, we got away from our game a little bit and took two penalties I didn’t like which resulted in goals against. We were down 2-1 going into the third on the road but they found a way and they answered. There were a lot of people here cheering for the other team and we are the ones who walked away with the W.”

STATS PACK

Meteors 4 Falcons 2

St. Catharines Tyler Hunt with a goal and an assist.

St. Catharines Falcons: Hunt (5); Matthew Hlacar (3); Noah Read (1); Grayson Gare (1).

Fort Erie Meteors: Blake Hall (2); Leam Beamish (1).

Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Charlie Burns 29, by Fort Erie on Hayden Jeffery 25; Power plays: St. Catharines 1-4, Fort Erie 1-5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 22, Fort Erie 10.

Attendance: 1,207.

Up next: The Falcons host Game 2 Monday at 7 p.m. at the Seymour-Hannah Complex in St. Catharines.