Falcons win ugly
Trent Vaillancourt went on the offensive Friday night.
The 17-year-old defenceman, who is normally a tough, stay-at-home rearguard who takes care of business in his own end first, came through at the other end of the ice with a pair of goals as the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons defeated the Brantford Bandits 4-1 in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League action in St. Catharines.
Vaillancourt netted his first of the game and second of the season late in the first period on a power play before wrapping up the scoring with his second of the night at the 15:44 mark of the third, which set the Falcons bench into a uproar.
“It feels great,” the Niagara Falls native said. “I haven’t scored a goal in a while and to pot two in one night, I can’t remember the last time I’ve done it so it feels so good.
“I’m pretty happy.”
Vaillancourt, who was drafted in the ninth round (168 overall) by the Mississauga Steelheads in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection, joined the Falcons last season but battled injuries and appeared in just 15 regular season games and eight more in the playoffs.
This season, the Saint Michael Catholic High School student has avoided the injury bug and has displayed a good deal of upside.
“I feel so much better (this year),” Vaillancourt said. “The confidence and my skating just feels so much better. It’s just like a mental game. It feels awesome to be back and healthy.
“It’s much easier. Everything’s just so much more smooth and you just feel so much better and the confidence is through the roof.”
Falcons assistant coach Rick Girhiny is a big fan of Vaillancourt.
“Valley’s a dedicated hockey player and he does everything we ask him to do,” said Girhiny, who was acting as head coach with head coach Tyler Bielby serving the first of his two-game suspension. “His game is growing.
“He missed all of last year so his rookie year is technically this year because he was injured last year. We just keep telling him every 15 games build his game and you’ll get rewarded and he’s done that all year and tonight he was rewarded.”
Vaillancourt has aspirations to play at a higher level.
“I’m looking to play maybe in the OHL next year or try and move my way up, but this is a great spot if it doesn’t work out,” he said. “I love the boys here and I love everything about this team.”
The Falcons, who were missing eight players due to injury or suspension, jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first but were unable to maintain that pace.
“We have a mishmash of a lineup tonight but we made no excuses, it doesn’t matter,” Girhiny said. “This is the team we had and this is the team we’re going with. The tendency was to let up a little bit, but we got it back on the rails, we got back on track. Our goal was to get a win tonight, and we did that.”
Girhiny said sometimes an ugly win can be just as satisfying as a solid overall effort.
“I said that after the game when I addressed the team. You have to win the dirty ones and you have to win the ugly ones too. And you know we did a lot of great things tonight though. And sometimes you create the ugliness also to get the win. It doesn’t have to be a Picasso to win a hockey game. You just do all the small little things and we did that tonight.
“I’m really proud of all the guys.”
The Falcons improved to 23-7-0-1 and lead the Eastern Conference by two points over the Ayr Centennials, who own two games in hand.
Falcon facts: Luke Gualtieri, Mitch Dymtrow, Kaleb Lyttleton, Cameron Lowe, Jordan Marconi, Matt Fries, Calvin Petrovsky and Juan Agromayor were scratched for the Falcons . . . Associated players Rylan Moukperian and Cooper Oikawa dressed for the Falcons and did not look out of place. . . The Falcons Community Care and Food Drive collected eight barrels of food as well as cash this holiday season.
STATS PACK
Falcons 4 Titans 1
Trent Vaillancourt with a pair of goals.
St. Catharines Falcons: Lachlan Sucher 2 (6,7); Trent Vaillancourt 2 (2,3).
Brantford Titans: Adam Stipan (7).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Tim Dolan (29), by Brantford on Hayden Jeffery (16); Power plays: St. Catharines 1/2, Brantford 0/5; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 12; Brantford 6.
Attendance: 398.
Up next: The Falcons head to Pelham Sunday at 2:45 p.m.
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