Falcons upend Blackhawks

The St. Catharines Falcons powered their way past the Thorold Blackhawks Thursday night.

The Falcons scored four power-play goals en route to a 7-4 victory in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference action at the Thorold Arena.

The Blackhawks were assessed the first five minors of the game and the Falcons took full advantage of the situation.

“I think it’s (power play) everything, especially come playoff time,” Falcons coach Tyler Bielby said. “We’ve seen the difference — we’ve dropped probably six or seven per cent on our power play percentage — and that’s been the difference in these one goal games.”

The Falcons, who came into the game with the No. 8 ranked power play in the GOJHL, kept it simple and were rewarded.

“We got pucks on net,” Bielby said. “You’ve got one extra guy on the ice so that rebound is there for the one extra guy. Sometimes you try to do too much and frustration sets in. You just have to go back to the basics.”

Defencemen Brady Caruso and Josh Urbshott both scored from the point with the man advantage while first-year defender Carter Geoffroy netted his first junior goal in a similar fashion by just throwing the puck on net.

“Going back to our latest defeat (2-0 loss versus Hamilton), we didn’t have a guy in front of their net the whole game,” Bielby said. “Tonight, their goalie didn’t see a puck all night and we were being rewarded with tips and goals.

“They weren’t tic-tac-toe pretty goals. They were hard-working goals with guys driving the net.”

The Blackhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Bielby wasn’t concerned.

“I thought we deserved a better fate after the first period,” he said. “Coming back, getting our feet wet, even our goaltender (Blair Coffin), his first shot is a breakaway and that’s tough.”

The win improved the Falcons record 22-9-2 and moves them to within two points of the Niagara Falls Canucks for second place.

The Blackhawks (18-13-2-2) could have moved to within two points of the Falcons with a win and now trail by six.

Hawks coach Scott Barnes liked the way his club started.

“We had a solid 20. We came out and were flying around and doing a lot of things,” he said. “We stopped moving our feet. Whether that’s the break and the guys not having their wind, we had a good 20 and not a great last 40.”

Barnes wasn’t about to blame the officials.

“Maybe a couple of calls you would have liked to have back, but at the end of the day you have to kill those off,” he said. “They didn’t do anything special. They just shot the puck and we didn’t block them.”

Chase Grsic got the start in goal for the Hawks but was pulled after permitting six goals on 25 shots. Noah Fortuna finished up and made eight saves on nine shots.

Hawk talk: Ridley College student and Pelham resident Alex Blanchard made his junior debut on the blueline for the Blackhawks . . . Thomas Lenart made his debut for the Falcons after being acquired from the Niagara Falls Canucks with forward Max Lightfoot for Carson Edwardson and Andrew Somerville. Lightfoot was ill and did not dress . . . In the only other game Thursday, the Hamilton Kilty B’s topped the visiting Pelham Panthers 6-2.

STATS PACK

Falcons 7 Blackhawks 4

BPSN Star of the Game: Falcons winger Curtis Egert with five points.

Thorold Blackhawks: Dylan Scriver (18); Nicholas Rubino (15); Cam Lightfoot (6); Mitch Britton (5).

St. Catharines Falcons: Egert (23); Xavier Drummond (18); Nick Volpatti (16); Adam Cherepacha (8); Joshua Urbshott (3); Brady Caruso (2); Carter Geoffroy (1).

Game stats: Shots on goal: By Thorold on Blair Coffin (34), by St. Catharines on Chase Grsic/Noah Fortuna (28); Power plays: Thorold 0-for-3, St. Catharines 4-for-5; Penalty minutes: Thorold10, St. Catharines 6.

Attendance: 317.

Up next: The Falcons are home to Buffalo Friday and in Buffalo Sunday afternoon. The Blackhawks are at Fort Erie Saturday.

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