Moore blanks Pelham in series opener
The one constant for any hockey team with championship aspirations is quality goaltending.
“It’s the No. 1 thing and I think anyone will tell you that,” Niagara Falls Canucks head coach Frank Pietrangelo said. “You have to have good goaltending every night and we have relied on Mooresy (Zach Moore) all year.”
Moore, a 21-year-old St. Catharines native who previously suited up for the St. Catharines Falcons and Caldeonia Corvairs, provided more of the same Friday night, making 25 saves to record the shutout as the Canucks topped the Pelham Panthers 5-0 in the opener of their best-of-seven Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference semifinal playoff series at the Gale Centre.
Moore now has a 4-0 record in the 2018-19 playoffs with a sparkling 1.75 goals against average and .929 save percentage.
“He was really good and on his game, and he was probably the best player on the ice tonight,” Canucks head coach Frank Pietrangelo said. “He handled the puck really well and he gave them nothing.”
Surprisingly, it was Moore’s first shutout of the season.
“He’s not a big guy who is into shutouts,” Pietrangelo said. “He is into wins, but he got a shutout and a win tonight which is great.”
After the game, Moore wasn’t sure whether it was his first shutout, but knew he had come close more than a few times, most notably losing a shutout versus Welland with two seconds left in the game.
“I’m not sure, but it’s cursed. That’s for sure,” he said, with a laugh. “I’m not a big stats guy but the Welland game wasn’t the first time.”
Moore has been a big part of the Canucks for the past three seasons.
“We brought him in to be our backup goalie and he won the No. 1 job by playoffs in his first year and he has been tremendous the last couple of years,” Pietrangelo said. “He has gotten better and maturity and experience are a big part of goaltending.”
During the regular season, Moore has a 30-6 record with a 2.60 goals against average and .911 saver percentage.
“He had 30 wins this year (regular season) and the next closest guy has 20,” Pietrangelo said. “That just shows how much better he was than everybody else and how much more consistent he was.”
Moore point to experience as the key to his development.
“Being around the guys, things just come easier.”
He loves being on a team with a legitimate shot at winning a championship.
“Every year we think we have a winning team and we’ve fallen short all the time, but this year everything has fallen into place.”
Moore points to one big difference in this season’s version of the Canucks.
“We’re an older team and we are connecting at the right time,” he said.
Moore knows his junior hockey career is rapidly coming to a conclusion.
“It’s in the back of your head a little when you come to the rink and you know your days are numbered,” he said. “ But you just want to keep winning and see how long you can go.”
The Canucks built a 3-0 first-period lead Friday night and never looked back.
“I was happy with our first period and I thought our power play was pretty good,” Pietrangelo said. “I thought our PK (penalty kill) was really good, but there were parts of our game that we have to be much better.”
He put discipline and focus right at the top of that list of things that needed to be better.
Canucks 5 Panthers 0
BPSN Star of the Game: Niagara Falls goalie Zach Moore with 25 saves to record the shutout.
Niagara Falls Canucks: Matthew Riva (2); Ben Evans (7); Nicholas Prestia (4); Justin Randhawa (2); Justin Kyle (1).
Pelham, Panthers: No scoring.
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara Falls on Brandon McCorriston 42; by Pelham on Zach Moore 25; Power plays: Niagara Falls 2-for-5, Pelham 0-for6; Penalty minutes: Niagara Falls 28, Pelham 36.
Up next: Game 2 of the series is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Pelham.
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