CALEDONIA — The Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs took two of three games last week and remain two points behind the St. Catharines Falcons, as of Tuesday. Caledonia still holds one game in hand heading into this week’s games.
Whether it is by design or coincidence, the Corvairs have a habit of massively outshooting everybody but not blowing out anybody.
Case in point was Sunday’s 2-1 win in Welland after outshooting the Jr. B Canadians 50-15. If those official stats are accurate, Welland goalie Charles Grimard, should have received a gold medal after the game, despite the loss.
This past week alone, the Corvairs have registered 138 shots on goal compared to a total 58 shots on goal for their three opponents combined. But they will happily take the four points and try their best to forget about their first loss.
Sunday, in Welland, Adam Craievich finally got one past Grimard at 8:18 of the first period. There was no scoring in the second despite Caledonia throwing 15 shot at Ancaster while Brandon McCorriston faced only three shots.
Welland scored first, at 4:39 with Craievich in the box for high-sticking, and Andrew Burns answered with the game winner at 5:57.
The Corvairs were looking for a big win Thursday to help soothe the wounds after losing their first game of the season, 4-2 at the hands of the St. Catharines Falcons, last Tuesday night at the Haldimand Centre Arena.
They got it by dominating the Ancaster Avalanche, 5-2 at the Morgan Firestone Arena.
Although Caledonia outshot the Av’s 14-6 in the first period, they could only get two past Ryan Dugas while Pierce Charleson gave up one on six Ancaster shots.
Each team added a goal in the much more evenly played second period to enter the final 20 minutes with Caledonia holding a 2-1 lead. Eddie Schultz and Jesse Barwell added late period goals to win the match, 5-2, after a barrage of 14 of shots, on goal compared to only three by the Av’s in the final frame.
Scoring for Caledonia were TL Hughes, Jesse Barwell, Adam Craievich, Andrew Burns and Eddie Schulz.
Falcon’s goaltender Owen Savory put on a show facing 51 shots and standing tall on 49 of them.
Territorially, the Corvairs were all over the Falcons but could not solve Savory.
That’s not to say Caledonia’s Brandon McCorriston took the night off. He faced 25 shots at his end.
The Corvairs took the first five penalties of the game and Tanner Ferreira capitalized on one of them to give St. Catharines a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, at 17:19, Bailey Fletcher evened the score from Sean O’Brien and Dorian Maye.
Caledonia got burned again with a Falcons’ powerplay goal at 8:30 of the second period and St. Kitts had a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes left.
Another St. Catharines powerplay goal opened the third period giving the Falcons a two-goal lead. Joshua DeFarias netted a Caledonia powerplay marker with 9:23 to go and it was a 3-2 game.
Despite outshooting St. Catharines 21-5 in the third period, no one could buy a goal, as Savory was spectacular. Then, with an extra man on the ice and an empty net, Lukas Smilsky buried an empty netter at 17:52 for the 4-2 final score, and the Corvairs first taste of defeat so far this season.
The Pro-Fit Corvairs will stay on the road with an excursion to Thorold, Thursday. Oct. 5th before hosting the Welland Canadians Sat. Oct. 7th, at 7:30. They will be in Buffalo, Tues. night Oct. 10th.
