Kilty B’s edge Falcons in OT
The St. Catharines Falcons and Hamilton Kilty B’s may have the best rivalry in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The teams met in last year’s final and have continued their battles this season with five entertaining matchups.
The Falcons and Kilty B’s split the first four games before the Kilty B’s took the lead in series with a dramatic 2-1 overtime win Friday at the Seymour-Hannah Sports Complex.
Justin Monteith scored the winner with 48 seconds to play when he knocked in a rebound in the crease next to St. Catharines netminder Josh Johnson.
“I think we’ve had three of the five go to overtime against them,” Falcons defenceman Jordan Schanbacher said. “It just proves we’re the top two teams in this province in this league in this division.”
The Falcons, 17-3-2, lead the Kilty B’s by one point for first place. Hamilton owns a game in hand.
Schanbacher, who scored the Falcons lone goal Friday, feels the game could have gone either way.
“It’s always a good game when we play against them,” he added. “A couple of bad bounces didn’t go our way tonight. We just have to keep playing like that against other teams and we’ll keep rolling.”
Schanbacher feels playing games with so much intensity can only benefit the Falcons down the road.
“It’s getting us experience so when it really matters in Game 7 of the Sutherland Cup finals, we’ll be prepared,” he said.
Falcons coach Tyler Bielby enjoys playing top competition as well.
“We’ve had a few overtime games, 2-1 games, 1-0 games, there’s just no room for error,” Bielby said. “It’s two teams playing with pride. We have game breakers on both teams so if you take a shift off that’s the difference. That’s what makes it so special. You have to be focused from the time you hit the ice.”
Bielby didn’t enjoy coming out on the wrong end of the score, but conceded some losses hurt less than others.
“I hate to lose. I absolutely despise losing, but if that’s how we’re going to lose, we’ll just get back to work,” he said. “I thought for 60 minutes we stuck to our game plan.”
The Falcons fired 39 shots at Hamilton netminder David Egorov but were unable to break the game open and needed Schanbacher’s marker in the third just to get to OT.
“We just have to get back to work at practice bearing around down the net. We got our chances, we just didn’t put the puck away,” Bielby said. “(There’s a) very fine line. At the end of the day, they ended up winning it at the end of overtime and just prior to that we had a breakaway. I guess last shot wins and tonight that was the case.”
In other games Friday, the Niagara Falls Canucks topped the Caledonia Corvairs 6-4 while the Thorold Blackhawks continued to play well with a 4-2 win at home over the Fort Erie Meteors.
Falcons facts: Mitch Dymtrow, Owen Day, Mitchell Armstrong and Michael Colavecchia did not dress for the Falcons . . . Noah Vanderbrink, Jackson Gruber and Luke Allison were scratched for the Kilty B’s.
Kilty B’s 2 Falcons 1
Hamilton goalie David Egorov with 38 saves.
St. Catharines Falcons: Jordan Schanbacher (3).
Hamilton Kilty B’s: Justin Monteith (8); Luca Campolo (7).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Egorov (39), by Hamilton on Josh Johnson (33); Power plays: St. Catharines 0/4, Hamilton 0/3; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 8, Hamilton 10.
Attendance: 315.
On deck: The Falcons take on the Thorold Blackhawks Saturday in Port Colborne.
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