Golden Horseshoe playoff roundup: Falcons, Mets, Corvairs earn wins
The St. Catharines Falcons took a period to get going before cruising to an 8-2 victory over the Pelham Panthers Wednesday night in Pelham in the opening game of their best-of-seven Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League quarter-final playoffs series.
Damon Radley gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with the lone goal of the first period when he scored on a power play at the 19-minute mark.
The Falcons finally got on the board just over nine minutes into the second when Jordan Schanbacher scored followed by a short-handed marker from Owen Simpson just over two minutes later. Nate Shirton and Parker Forlin also scored as the Falcons took a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Blake Yetman, Cameron Knight, Schanbacher and Nate Robertson rounded out the scoring in for the Falcons in the third period. Jonah Boria chipped in with three assists.
Zachary Cafaro netted the second Pelham goal.
“Good start for the boys,” Falcons coach Tyler Bielby said. “It’s important that we now put our focus towards practice on Thursday and be ready to go at home Friday.”
Aiden Berry faced 20 shots in net for the Falcons while St. Catharines fired 64 shots against starter Logan Slou and Andrew Welch.
Game 2 goes Friday in St. Catharines.
Corvairs 8 Blackhawks 1
The Caledonia Corvairs set the tone early with a dominating performance in the opener of their series versus the visiting Thorold Blackhawks.
The Covrairs led 2-0 after one period and extended their lead to 5-0 after two.
Markus Dempewolf and Calvin Crombie paced Caledonia with two goals each while Steven Laforme, Travis Houle, Dominic Mufarreha and Nathan Duplessis scored for the winners.
Christiano Stogiannis spoiled Marek Pavlas’ bid for a shutout with just under nine minutes to play.
Christian Lynch got the nod in goal for Thorold and permitted five goals on 42 shots before giving way to Tucker Adams in the final period. Adams gave up the final three goals.
The teams combined for 80 minutes (54-26 Caledonia) in penalties.
The Corvairs collected five goals in 11 opportunities with the man advantage while the Hawks went 0-9.
Game 2 is Friday in Port Colborne.
Meteors 1 Canucks 0 OT
Sam Barrett scored just over six minutes into overtime as the Meteors took Game 1 of their series with a 1-0 win over the visiting Niagara Falls Canucks.
“Sammy Barrett has the hot stick and it’s great to see!” Meteors coach/general manager Nik Paerro said.
Fort Erie outshot Niagara Falls 34-21 in regulation time. Niagara Falls held an 8-4 lead in shots in the extra period before Barrett scored.
“We expected a war and they gave it to us,” Passero said. “I don’t expect anything to change moving forward.”
Avery Alves made 37 saves in net for the Canucks.
Joshua Smith was solid in net for the Mets with 29 saves for the shutout.
“Huge night from Smitty, he’s been great and made some huge timely saves,” Passero said.
Game 2 is Friday in Niagara Falls.
The Hamilton Kilty B’s and Welland Junior Canadians begin their series Thursday in Hamilton.
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