Weekend junior B roundup: Mets win two; Kilty B’s top Panthers; Falcons double RedHawks
John Lloyd has quietly put together a stellar season for the Fort Erie Meteors.
The 20-year-old netminder kicked out 15 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Meteors blanked the visiting Port Colborne Sailors 3-0 Saturday night.
Lloyd’s numbers are remarkable: a 1.79 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and a 14-4-2 win/loss record.
“John’s been real steady,” Meteors general manager/coach Nik Passero said. “Had a little bit of an injury issue and was sick for a little bit, but he’s been great for us. Another weekend, one goal against. You know, probably two games that aren’t very easy to play in. We didn’t give up many shots, but he stood tall for us. He stopped two breakaways, I think. He was really good.”
Lloyd’s size — he’s listed at 6-foot-3 — is a huge help.
“He’s just a big boy, blocks the net,” Passero said. “When teams look down the other end, that’s not nice to look at. He’s calm back there. Guys play hard for him. He’s exactly what this team needs.”
Lloyd played understudy for Charlie Burns last season and has made the transition to No. 1 this year without issue.
“I think John struggled with that a little bit last year when he got his chance,” Passero said. “There was a lot of pressure on him so he learned a lot last year being the backup, going through that entire run with us. He came back this year ready to go.”
Lloyd, who hails from Toronto, was quick to give credit to his teammates for the shutout Saturday.
“I think it’s one of the best feelings in the world. You know, obviously it can’t be done without the team. I think we have probably the most blocked shots,” Lloyd said. “It’s a huge team effort all around. I think it’s too bad the limelight is put on the goalie.”
The Meteors have permitted just 85 goals through 40 games, best in the Eastern Conference, which is a testament to Lloyd, backup Finn Moffett, as well as a solid, veteran defence corps.
“It allows me to be as confident as possible. If I put out a bad rebound, I know they have my back,” Lloyd said of his defence.
Lloyd said he is enjoying being the go-to netminder this season.
“It’s definitely been different, a change of view, if you will,” he said. “I’m just always talking to my goalie coaches, asking them for advice, talking to current coaches, asking them for advice and stuff like that. I’m just sort of being a leader on the team, just really communicating with the team.”
The Meteors sit in third place with a 27-10-3 mark, just two points behind Ayr for second spot with 10 games left to play in the regular season.
“We had a team meeting earlier in the week about this next stretch of, I guess, 10 games left. If we go and win them all, we get at least second place. And then we also get 37 wins on the year, which beats out the last,” Lloyd said.
Sam Tonelli (26), Colton Radford (11) and Aiden Zimmerman (10) scored for Fort Erie.
Lloyd also made 20 saves Friday at the Meteors defeated the Caledon Bombers 5-1.
Tonelli, Radford, Zimmerman, Danny Adamo (9) and Owen Cressman (2) scored.
Kilty B’s 3 Panthers 1
The Pelham Panthers missed a golden opportunity to gain ground in the standings, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Hamilton Kilty B’s Sunday afternoon in Pelham.
The Panthers, 14-22-5, trail the Kilty B’s by eight points for seventh place. The teams meet again Thursday in Hamilton.
The Kilty B’s broke a 1-1 deadlock with a pair of power-play goals in the third period.
“Stay out of the . . . box, enough is enough,” Panthers coach/assistant general manager Zac Rinaldo said when asked what the post-game message was to the team.
Rinaldo said the coaching staff has worked overtime trying to get the Panthers to be more disciplined.
“Last week we addressed it. The first thing we did in video was address penalties. I pulled up video, I showed good penalties, I showed bad calls, I showed good penalties,” Rinaldo said. “We’ve addressed where we are in the penalty column, almost leading the second worst team by 100. We understand that we’re not going to get calls.
“We just have to grow up.”
Zachary Bell netted Pelham’s lone goal of the game in the first period.
Rinaldo would like to see the Panthers be less cute with the puck.
“We’re young, we’re somewhat inexperienced. We need to get a better mindset and just start being OK with getting chances, not trying to make the prettiest plays,” he said. “We need to just put pucks to the net because when you put pucks to the net nine times out of 10 you’re going to retrieve it but if your mindset is I need to score on this shot you’re gonna handcuff yourself and only get 20-22 shots a game. The attempts should be at least 50-60 attempts.”
With only a few weeks before the playoffs, Rinaldo said now is not the time to ease up.
“I’m very consistent in our work ethic and in my demand at practice,” he said. “So it’s not like one week it’s off and then the next week it’s on. We come to work every single day. There’s no grey area with me.”
Jackson Pepin, Quinten Lisle and Evan Krell scored for the Kilty B’s.
Avery Alves made 37 saves for the win.
Logan Snyder kicked out 36 shots for the Panthers.
SATURDAY
Falcons 6 RedHawks 3
Hayden Jeffery made 36 saves as the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons doubled the Cambridge RedHawks.
Cam Lowe, Matt Fries, Calvin Petrovsky, Trent Gates, Brendan Grenville and Ally Mostafaie scored for the Falcons.
“Was nice to get out to a hot start and bury on our chances early,” Falcons head coach/president of hockey operations Tyler Bielby said. “Not easy going into the Galt with their opposing fans, but the boys did a got job of neutralizing that energy early. We have been happy with the depth in our scoring and that showed up again last night.
“It’s important we continue to work on our discipline and our detailed zone play. Can’t win in the playoffs without the details. Hayden was excellent last night for us and made timely big saves which allowed us to continue building on the lead. He needs to be our anchor and did a good job of anchoring down last night.”
Cameron Fries, Weston Cameron and Ryder Simpson replied for Cambridge.
Corvairs 18 Junior Canadians 1
Ethan Osborne collected four goals and four assists as the Caledonia Corvairs pummelled the visiting Welland Junior Canadians.
Ty Hutchinson, Joshua Cacciola and Ethan Quick added three goals apiece while Matthew O’Sullivan had a pair. Singles went to Brody Leet, Travis Houle and Tyler Clark.
Kurt Johnson netted the lone Welland goal.
Caledonia led 2-0 after one period and 11-0 after two.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
St. Catharines at Ayr, 7 p.m.
Pelham at Hamilton, 7:07 p.m.
Fort Erie at Brantford, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Ayr at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Port Colborne at Caledon, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY
Caledonia at Fort Erie, 7 p.m.
SUNDAY
Caledonia at Welland, 1:30 p.m.
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