Falcons knock off Blackhawks
Kyle Glenney has been anything but complacent this season.
The 20-year-old winger was part of last year’s St. Catharines Falcons Sutherland Cup championship squad, but that doesn’t mean the Pelham native is satisfied to play out the string in his last season of junior eligibility.
Glenney, who is off to a strong start, potted two more goals Friday as the Falcons defeated the Thorold Blackhawks 7-2 in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League game at the Seymour-Hanna Sports Complex.
Glenney now has 10 goals on the season after netting 17 all of last year.
“It feels good. It’s my last year, a new arena, new fans, so it’s nice to be able to produce,” Glenney said. “I think it’s just going in more. I’m getting some better looks and getting better passes from guys, better opportunities from who I’m playing with. Nothing else has really changed.”
Glenney said the Falcons are in it to win it again.
“We have younger guys who look up to us and it’s our responsibility to win it for them, not just for us again,” he said. “I think having them around brings in the fire.
“We have a lot of guys who won it last year who are still here but a lot of new guys are bringing a lot of hunger and I think the new guys just feed off that.”
Falcons coach Tyler Bielby feels Glenney has the tools to be an elite offensive player.
“Frank (general manager Frank Girhiny) and I challenged Kyle. We told him in the off-season he’s capable of scoring 30 goals in this league,” Bielby said. “He has a shot that is superior to most in the league. He has to work to get himself into spots and move his feet to get into those spots to release that shot and tonight I thought he did.”
Glenney is a big body — his nickname is The Bus — but Bielby wants him to use his size wisely.
“I don’t want him running around because he is a guy who can help us offensively,” Bielby said. “We want him to own his ice and use his man strength and when he does that, it’s tough to compete against him.”
Overall, Bielby was happy with the effort versus a Thorold squad which has been playing their best hockey of the season.
“I think that’s the biggest takeaway from tonight — seven goals,” he said. “We like keeping the puck out of the net but we’ve struggled at times this year to score but tonight that wasn’t the case and I thought we could have scored few more.
“It was a good effort.”
Things got testy in the third period culminating in a tussle between when Grayson Gare and Cam Knight.
“Thorold have been playing some good hockey. They haven’t been in a game where they’re losing like that in a while so I expect them to have some pride and for them to make sure we remember who they are,” Bielby said.
Glenney agreed.
“When a guy comes at you, you have to stand up for yourself,” he said. “You would expect that from anybody. If we instigated on them, we would expect the same thing.
“It’s a man’s game. No one likes to get beat 7-2.”
The Blackhawks were coming off a 2-0 win at Hamilton Thursday that saw Christian Lynch notch his second shutout in a row with 28 saves while Liam Loftus and Jack Sykes scored.
“We had a real good game last night and it’s tough with back-to-back games against the two best teams in the league,” Thorold coach Scott Barnes said. “We can take some good things out of this game. I thought we played timid in the first period. That’s a big team, an older team, and they can impose their will on you so our big thing in the second and third period was to push back and I thought we did a fairly decent job of that.”
Falcon facts: Bielby earned his 100th career coaching victory (regular season and playoffs) with the win.
STATS PACK
Falcons forward Kyle Glenney with two goals and an assist.
Falcons 7 Blackhawks 2
For the St. Catharines Falcons: Blake Yetman 3 (10, 11, 12); Glenney 2 (9, 10); Nate Shirton (9); Colton Chipman (5).
For the Thorold Blackhawks: Nathan Kelly (8); Dylan Coers (3).
Attendance: 440.
On deck: The Falcons visit the Fort Erie Meteors Saturday. The Blackhawks host the Meteors Friday in Port Colborne.
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