Falcons drop first-place showdown

Fans hoping for a repeat of the St. Catharines Falcons’ home-opening shootout victory over the Caledonia Corvairs left the Seymour-Hannah Sports Complex disappointed Friday night.

With first place on the line — both teams came in with identical 10-2-0-1 records — the Falcons fell 4-2 to the Corvairs in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League action to fall into third place in the Golden Horseshoe Conference behind Caledonia and Fort Erie.

At the end of the game, Falcons head coach/general manager Tyler Bielby was as displeased with his team as he was with the less than stellar performance of the officiating crew. He kept his thoughts on the latter to himself (at least on the record) but he let his team know what he thought of its outing in the dressing room after the game.

“We have to be a lot better. Our guys have to decide if they want to put the work in. Everybody wants to go to the next level but you have to put the work in,” he said. “We can’t keep watching our same guys in the depth of our lineup work their butts off day in and day out and have the same guys take penalties and put us behind the eight ball all night.”

What most annoyed Bielby about his team’s performance was the second period where his team was outshot 17-6.

“I didn’t like our second period at all. We talked about it. It was a 1-1 game and the second period is big and we are at home and that’s what we gave our fans,” he said. “That effort is not good enough and it was the difference tonight.”

The score could have been a lot worse if not for the play of Falcons netminder Hayden Jeffery who made 43 saves, several of the difficult variety.

“Hayden shows up every day for these kids. He works hard in practice and does everything. He made paddle saves and did it all to keep them in the game,” Bielby said. “They just need to work harder as a unit.”

On the bright side of a gloomy night, the Falcons have little time to sit back and reflect on how poorly they played. The two teams meet again Saturday in Caledonia.

“That’s the thing. It is short memory. We are right back at it tomorrow and away we go.”

While unhappy with Friday’s game, Bielby likes the construction of his roster.

“Don’t question or mistake my unhappiness as to whether or not I believe in these guys. That is why I am upset. They have more in them,” he said. “I don’t mind losing off of bounces or whatever it is but we are never going to lose again because we don’t want to work hard enough. You have to work hard to play on this team. It is a prerequisite. If you don’t want to back check, if you don’t want to block shots, if you don’t want to do what it takes to win, we will find you another place to play.”

STATS PACK

St. Catharines goalie Hayden Jeffery with 43 saves.

Corvairs 4 Falcons 2

For the St. Catharines Falcons: Treyson Dewar (7); Owen King (2).

For the Caledonia Corvairs: Jayden Lammel (5, 6); Owen Rainey (6, 7).

Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Keegan Jackson 20, by Caledonia on Hayden Jeffery 47; Power plays: St. Catharines 1-7, Caledonia 0-5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 28 Caledonia 42.

Attendance: 447.

Up next: St. Catharines is at Caledonia Saturday at 7:30 p.m.