CALEDONIA – The Pro-fit Corvairs had a casual skate Monday night in Thorold returning with an 8-0 shut out win over the Blackhawks, hardly breaking a sweat to do it.
It’s a neck and neck race to the top of the Golden Horseshoe Conference of the GOJHL before the Christmas Break and the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs and St. Catharines Falcons each hold identical records of 57 points after 33 games played.
Saturday night, the Corvairs were hosting the Welland Canadians at the Haldimand Centre and prevailed with an 8-5 win. It was 2-2 after the first 20 minutes of play after Ryan Miotto and Matt Martin scored for Welland. The Corvairs came back with goals by Brandon Lindberg and Jamey Lauzon on a powerplay.
The Profit Corvairs busted the game open in the second scoring five more and allowing two to take a 7-4 second period lead. Each team added one more in the third for the 8-5 final.
Brandon Lindberg scored two and assisted on two for the Corvairs, and Guy Polillo, Fletcher Bailey, Lauzon with two, Adam Craivich and Quentin Maksimovich added Corvair goals.
After 34 games played and one left before the All-star and Christmas Break, the Pro-Fit Corvairs have won 29, lost four and tied one for the divisional lead with 59 points. St. Catharines is 27-3-0 with 3 OT losses for 57 points however they hold one game in hand over the Corvairs at press time.
The Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs are going for an unprecedented fourth straight Sutherland Cup, Jr. B title. The Sutherland Cup is the ice hockey Ontario Junior “B” Provincial Championship trophy. The Sutherland Cup is now the championship trophy of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Until 2007, the Cup served as an interleague provincial championship. From 1976 until 1978, as many as eight leagues competed for the Sutherland Cup in a massive playdown structure that took months to complete.
There is no National Championship for Junior B hockey in Canada, similar championships are held in Western Canada (Keystone Cup), Quebec (Coupe Dodge), and Eastern Canada (Don Johnson Memorial Cup)—leaving four teams at the end of each year with a shared claim to being the best Junior B team in Canada.