CALEDONIA – Not that anyone realistically expected anything different, but the GOJHL Jr. B Conference matchup between the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs, and the St. Catharines Falcons is not going to be quite as easy as getting there for the Corvairs.
The Corvairs and the St. Catharines Spartan were in a toe-to-toe end-to-end first period when Lucas Smilsky scored the only goal of the first period despite Caledonia outshooting the visitors 14-8.
Caledonia’s Eddy Schulz made the best of a powerplay opportunity to get the Corvairs machine running. But Matt Marinier and Smilsky closed the second 20 minutes with the Falcons leading 3-1.
Bailey Fletcher and Trent Mallette took over from there scoring all five third period Caledonia goals while Bradley Van Schubert and the Corvairs’ defence kept the Falcons outside looking in as Flatcher scored three and Mallette scored two for the 6-3 Caledonia win. The Corvairs are up 2-1 in the best of seven series.
The series stared Wednesday, Mar. 29 and set the tone for the rest. Although the Corvairs came out on top 3-2, it took a long time to get there. The fans got a lot of bang out of their entertainment buck. These two evenly measured teams battled through three periods and three overtime periods before Caledonia’s Eddie Schutz sent everyone home after three hours and 49 seconds of fast paced Jr. B playoff action. Also scoring for Caledonia were Trent Mallette and Adam Craievich.
Zach Main and Lucas Smilsky scored for St. Catharines. Bradley Van Schubert registered the win in the Corvair goal facing 38 shots. Owen Savory at the other end of the ice faced 56 shots in a loosing effort.
Game No. 2, at the Jack Gatecliff Rink in St. Catharines, Friday night was more of the same high speed, action. It too ended 3-2, in OT, when Greg DiTomaso scored at 6:40 of the extra frame to even the series at a game apiece.
Game No. 4 is slated for the Jack Gatecliff arena Tuesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. with Game No. 5 coming back to the Haldimand Centre Arena in Caledonia, Wednesday April 5.
Game No. 6, if necessary, will be in St. Kitts Friday April 7 and a possible Game No. 7 in Caledonia Saturday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m.
