Junior hockey report: IceDogs fall in Ottawa; Junior B roundup; Junior C playoffs begin
The Niagara IceDogs’ eight-game winning streak came to a screeching halt Saturday in Ottawa.
The IceDogs dropped a 6-1 decision to the Ottawa 67’s in a battle of the top two teams in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.
Ottawa improved to 38-9-3-1, nine points ahead of the IceDogs, 32-11-7-0, who own a game in hand.
The 67’s, who won their seventh in a row, took the season series 3-1.
Ottawa jumped out to a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes on a goal by Sash Chmelevski at the 11:45 mark.
Jack Studnicka tied things up less than a minute into the second for Niagara before the 67’s reeled off three straight goals, two by Tye Felhaber and one by Chmelevski, in a span of just over three minutes to lead 4-1 after two periods.
Kyle Maksimovich and Graeme Clark added singles for the 67’s in the third.
Michael DiPietro made 25 saves in net for the win while Stephen Dhillon faced 40 shots in net for Niagara.
Friday night in Kingston, former Frontenac Jason Robertson, playing in Kingston for the first time since being acquired by the IceDogs, scored two goals and collected two assists as the IceDogs won 5-1.
Studnicka, Oliver Castleman, Kirill Maksimov also scored for Niagara.
Rookie goaltender Christian Sbaraglia made 18 saves for the win.
The IceDogs are home to Mississauga Thursday before travelling to Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury on the weekend.
JUNIOR B
Falcons 4 Panthers 3 2OT
The St. Catharines Falcons completed a perfect weekend topping the Pelham Panthers in overtime Sunday at Pelham.
The Falcons also defeated the Niagara Falls Canucks 3-2 Saturday in Niagara Falls and began their weekend with a 6-0 win at home Friday versus Welland.
“We are very pleased winning three games in two-and-a-half days,” Falcons coach/general manager Frank Girhiny said. “Our team is starting to gel but the most exciting thing is we have a few areas in our game we can and will improve on over the next few weeks.”
Bryce Robertson’s second goal of the game, at 2:36 of the second extra period, gave the Falcons the win and the extra point.
Andrew Somerville and Carson Edwardson also scored for the Falcons.
Thomas Young, Nathan Gallen and Chris Webber replied for the Panthers, who tied the game at 18:47 to force overtime.
Jack McGovern made 29 saves to earn the win.
The Falcons, 34-4-0-2, lead the Canucks by three points for first place in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference. They have the top winning percentage (.875) and have permitted the fewest goals (89) in the GOJHL.
The Falcons travel to Lockport Wednesday and are home to Fort Erie Friday.
The Panthers dropped to 22-14-0-4.
Regals 5 Junior Canadians 2
The Lockport Regals continue to have the Welland Junior Canadians’ number.
The Regals, who have just six wins all season, topped the Junior Canadians in Welland Sunday for their fourth win versus Welland this season.
Alex Stinis and Hunter Litman scored two each for the Regals while Erich Thur added one.
James Hruska and Alex Page replied for the Junior Canadians, who fell to 8-29-0-4 and have dropped 10 straight.
Kilty B’s 4 Meteors 2
Holden Rogers scored twice as the visiting Hamilton Kilty B’s doubled the Fort Erie Meteors Saturday at the Leisureplex.
Jordan Stock and Chris Ishmael added singles for Hamilton.
Drew Passero and Luca Mazzo replied for the Mets.
Junior C
The Niagara Riverhawks will open their quarter-final playoff series vs the Hamilton Huskies Jr Blues on the road this week.
The Riverhawks finished in fifth spot in the Bloomfield division with 45 points, just two points behind Hamilton.
The two teams are comparatively even splitting the regular season series with three wins each.
The series will start Thursday night in Hamilton before returning to the Gale centre on Saturday night for Game 2 at 7 p.m.
Riverhawks head coach Tim Barath expects it to be a physical series that could go the full seven games.
“We have played each other close all season and we are two pretty evenly matched teams. We will need to play disciplined and well defensively. Obviously goaltending is huge and we have confidence in both our guys. I expect it to be a long ,physical series.”
The following is the schedule:
Game 1: Thursday, Feb. 7 at Hamilton, 8:20 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 9 at Niagara, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, Feb. 10 at Hamilton, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4: Tuesday, Feb. 12 at Niagara, 7:30 p.m.
Game 5: Thursday, Feb. 14 Hamilton, 8:20 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6: Saturday, Feb. 16 at Niagara, 7 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7: Sunday, Feb. at Hamilton, 7:30 p.m. ( if necessary )
All Riverhawks game will be played at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls.
The other division matchups will see Glanbrook(1) vs Hespeler (8), Grimsby(2) vs Dunnville (7) and Hagersville (3) vs Port Dover (6)
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