Falcons power past Meteors
Mitch Dmytrow’s time has finally arrived.
The 18-year-old defenceman has seen limited duty with the St. Catharines Falcons over the last couple of seasons but this year made the team out of training camp and is expected to play an important role.
Dmytrow collected a goal and two assists Saturday at the Falcons topped the Fort Erie Meteors 5-3 in a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League game played before 1,304 fans at the Leisureplex.
“It feels great to be a full part of the team,” Dmytrow said. “We have a lot of young talent in there and the sky’s the limit with all these young guys.”
Dmytrow, who played 14 games with the Falcons last year while also suiting up at the midget level, kept his spirits up and was determined to crack the lineup full time.
“Honestly, it was the coaching staff,” Dmytrow said. “I trust them. They gave me a good speech that they believe in me and I believe in myself and it all worked out.”
Falcons general manager/coach Tyler Bielby is happy for Dmytrow.
“You can tell he’s really loving the game,” Bielby said. “I’m a big believer when these young guys are enjoying the game, when they’re smiling and believing in themselves, is when they are at their best.”
Dmytrow has five points in the Falcons first two games but Bielby is more concerned with his effort at the other end of the ice.
“I want him to keep working on defending. At the end of the day, I need defencemen,” Bielby said. “I expect him to take on a bigger role and steady minutes but be Steady Eddy and be a guy we can put on the ice when we are up a goal or down a goal.”
Dmytrow understands his role.
“My job is to defend but it’s nice when the points come,” the St. Francis graduate said.
The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the five-minute mark of the second before the Meteors scored a pair of goals with the man advantage to narrow the gap to 3-2 after two.
“I was happy with our first. I was concerned coming into their barn for their home opener but the boys did exactly what we wanted in the first period and then we had a good reminder after the second period that good teams don’t beat themselves,” Bielby said. “We challenged them. They saw a side of me maybe they quite haven’t seen yet. The second period was unacceptable and has no business in our game. We don’t want to play like that as a team and that’s what ultimately allowed them to get back in the game.”
The Meteors tied the game halfway through the third when Beamsville’s Liam Beamish netted his first junior goal but the Falcons quickly responded with a power-play goal by Caleb Thomson to retake the lead. William Moore then iced the game away with en empty-net goal at 19:04.
“Fort Erie came to work and we always know they’re well coached but we took four points on opening weekend so as a coach and GM, I’m pretty happy,” Bielby said.
The same could not be said for Fort Erie GM/coach Nik Passero.
“We don’t want to be chasing leads all the time,” Passero said. “Our penalty kill is killing us through two games. It’s something we really have to work on and obviously no practice time before Caledonia Monday. There’s guys in that locker room whose job it is to penalty kill and they have to get it done.
“They put us behind the eight-ball right away. We tie it up and the crowd’s going bananas and we take a dumb penalty on a turnover and on the ensuing play we get scored on.”
Passero had no issues with his team’s effort.
“A good trend is that we don’t give up. There’s always meat on the bone and leadership has been good on the bench,” he said.
Falcons 5 Meteors 3
Young’s Insurance Player of the Game: St. Catharines defenceman Mitch Dmytrow with a goal and two assists
Fort Erie Meteors: R.J. Schmidt (2); MacCallister Ward (1), Liam Beamish (1).
St. Catharines Falcons: Dmytrow (1), Caleb Thompson (2); Noah Read (1), Marcus Harris (1); William Moore (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Fort Erie on Hayden Jeffrey (29), by St. Catharines on Charlie Burns (30); Power plays: St. Catharines 2/4, Fort Erie 2/5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 10, Fort Erie 8.
Attendance: 1,304.
Up next: The Meteors travel to Caledonia Monday. The Falcons take on Chatham Saturday at the GOJHL Showcase in Elmira.
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