CALEDONIA ‑ The new year began well for the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs with a 7–0 win over Fort Erie on Saturday night, followed by a 6–2 win over the Ancaster Avalanche on Sunday night at the Haldimand County Caledonia Centre.
After the first week of what is considered the second half of the season, the Corvairs ride atop a 29–1–1–2 record for 61 points. That is 15 points ahead of second place Ancaster in the Golden Horseshoe Conference, and four points ahead of Kitchener overall in the 26 team league.
Sunday’s win over Ancaster may be important as they put more distance between the two franchises. Mitchell Fitzmorris led the way with two goals and an assist.
Matthew Hore surprised the Avs with a goal 35 seconds into the contest with Jake Brown adding another at 4:39. With two goals on four Caledonia shots, it was obviously not goaltender Matt Calas’ night and he was replaced by Cole Ceci, but it didn’t matter much. Mark Sinclair went the distance for Caledonia.
Max Balinson got Ancaster into the game with a power play goal scored at 13:52 to end the first 20 minutes of play with Caledonia leading 2–1.
Another quick Corvair goal opened the second period as Quenton Makismovich made it 3–1 at 1:36. Jacob Bianchi and Fitzmorris ended the second period with Caledonia well in charge, leading 5–1.
All hell broke loose in the third as frustration set in for the Avs, which Caledonia was not willing to let slide by without a response.
Owen Burnell and Matt Rimac duked it out at the 3-minute mark with both combatants being tossed by referee Scott Brown. A minute later Avalanche’s Michael Pollice got a game misconduct for a head check. Two minutes later, Caledonia’s Chadd Bauman was sent to an early shower for kneeing. Matt Hore was also ejected for abuse of officials in a very nasty third period when 26 infractions were shared by the two teams, many were aggressive.
Saturday night in Fort Erie, the Corvairs took a stroll in the park against the Meteors while Sinclair kept all 20 shots fired at him, mostly from bad angles, for the shutout.
Eleven Corvairs added points to their stats led by Daniel Volpe and Matthew Hore who gathered two goals and two assists each along the way. The Meteors will have to face the Corvairs again this Friday, January 8th, in Caledonia before getting another kick at the Avalanche, in Ancaster on Saturday.