Grenville leads Falcons past B’s
Time is ticking down on the end of Brendan Grenville’s junior hockey career.
With that in mind, the 21-year-old Fonthill resident is playing every game like it is his last.
“It’s the mentality that I am taking. I am not taking anything for granted because it is my last year of hockey and we are only guaranteed four games,” the six foot, 183-pound forward said Tuesday night, after scoring twice, including the game-winner, to lead the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons to a 5-3 victory over the visiting Hamilton Kilty B’s in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff action.
Grenville has played with that attitude all season long.
“It is my last year of hockey and you never know what the future holds. I will see where it will take me. You never know who is watching.”
Knowing it is his last year had Grenville anxious to get back in the lineup after missing a handful of games heading into the playoffs.
“I was bugging coach at the end of the season to let me play but he thought it was best to hold me out until the end of the regular season.”
Grenville played for the Thorold Blackhawks, Port Colborne Sailors and Pelham Panthers before finding a home with the Falcons.
“It was a little bit hectic but this is the home I want to be at. It is a high-class organization and they are always at the top of the the standings and going on deep runs. I had a choice to pick between some organizations and it was my last year and I wanted to play here.”
With his previous teams, he never found his way out of the first round of the playoffs.
“I am trying to make it a joyful ride to the final as much as I can,” said Grenville, who has two goals and three assists in the series which the Falcons now lead two games to one. “I believe in our group and I believe we have the guys to take us all the way and we just have to out-work every team. Tonight we showed it.”
Grenville’s father, Chris Grenville, a former pro and 40-goal scorer with the Niagara Falls Canucks, had plenty of long playoff runs and has been a good source of advice for his son.
“He just says to enjoy things because you never know what is going to happen. The hockey gods could be on your side or not but if you work hard, it will all work out in the end for you.”
Falcons head coach/president of hockey operations Tyler Bielby is a big fan of Grenville.
“He’s our guy. He’s Mr. Moustachio. He’s a good kid. It is his last year and he has never made it out of the first round. He wants to see things through and he is working his ass off and I couldn’t be prouder of him,” he said. “He can hit, he can pass, he can shoot, he can block a shot and he does everything for us. He kills penalties, he is on the power play and is a big part of what we are doing.”
St. Catharines trailed 2-0 before the game was four minutes old and looked listless until Calvin Petrovsky’s snow shower of Hamilton goalie Avery Alves created the first of an endless parade of scrums after the whistle.
“That is not how we wanted to start and it’s not how we drew it up. We were not ready to go tonight and they got a couple of bounces early that gave them a two-goal lead,” Bielby said. “We reminded the guys there was a lot of hockey left and veteran Petrovsky went down, got us some energy, drew a penalty and we were able to score. That was the exact TSN Turning Point (we say BPSN Turning Point) in the game.”
It was the beginning of a whole bunch of after-the-whistle kerfuffles.
“We’ve got to be disciplined but I didn’t think we showed enough life until that moment. From there, we were finishing our checks, getting in on the forecheck and you could hear our bench,” Bielby said. “For the first five minutes, all you could here was their bench. Our bench was too quiet and I wasn’t shocked it was 2-0. As soon as we got up and had a pulse, we took it to them.”
Hamilton is playing nothing like an eighth-place team that lost all five regular season games to the Falcons.
“Credit to Hamilton and what they are doing over there,” Bielby said. “At the end of the season, I know they would have wanted things to go a different way for them to finish a little stronger but their coach got them going. They are going to make us better.”
STATS PACK
Falcons 5 Kilty B’s 3
St. Catharines’ Brendan Grenville with two goals.
St Catharines Falcons: Brendan Grenville (2); Cam Lowe (1); Lucas Tuin (1); Dillon Atkinson (1).
Hamilton Kilty B’s: Gianmarco Caringi (1), Spencer Jon Gendall (2); Jack Seney (1);
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Avery Alves (40), by Hamilton on Hayden Jeffery (23); Power plays: St. Catharines 2-6, Hamilton 0-4. Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 31, Hamilton 45.
Attendance: 476.
Up next: The Falcons are in Hamilton Thursday before returning home for Game 5 of the series Friday at 7 p.m.
