Girhiny nets OT winner for Falcons
The St.Catharines Falcons can advance to the finals versus Niagara Falls with a win at home Friday. FILE PHOTO BY: BERNIE PUCHALSKI
Christian Girhiny came through in the clutch for the St. Catharines Falcons Thursday night.
The shifty forward, who gave the Falcons a huge boost on offence in the regular season when he joined the team from the Erie Otters, potted the winner just under four minutes into overtime as the Falcons edged the Hamilton Kilty B’s 5-4. It was Girhiny’s third goal of the game.
The Falcons lead the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference best-of-seven semifinal playoff series 3-1 and can wrap up a trip to the finals versus the Niagara Falls Canucks with a win at home in Game 5 Friday. Game 6, if necessary, is back in Hamilton Sunday.
“It was a huge win,” Falcons coach/general manager Frank Girhiny said.
“It was a hard-fought game and very entertaining. Both teams were resilient.”
Girhiny’s goal came on a nice set up from Jack Venneri.
“Jack has been a scratch for the last few games and made a perfect pass,” Girhiny said.
Xavier Drummond once again got the ball rolling for St. Catharines with a power-play goal less than three minutes into the game. The Kilty B’s answered with a goal from Freddie Teeple five minutes later as the teams headed to the lockeroom tied 1-1 after one.
Girhiny gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead seven minutes into the second before the Kilty B’s once again tied it up on a goal from Marino Moro. Drummond’s second of the night with the man advantage gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead after two.
Mark Duarte tied things up once again for Hamilton at 3-3 before Girhiny scored his second to give the Falcons a brief 4-3 lead. The Kilty B’s sent the game into overtime on a goal by Marc Shannon.
Noah Battaglia made 29 saves in net for the win while Jaco Roach added four assists.
Marco Costantini kicked out 37 shots in a losing cause.
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