CALEDONIA – The St. Catharines Falcons and the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs have become one of the most intense rivalries in the Greater Ontario Junior B Hockey League over the past two or three years and once again this season, the Corvairs have taken a special relish in defeating them, and vice-versa.
This past weekend the two clashed in a home-and-home series worth a total of four potential points on the line.
The Corvairs lost a 4-3 OT decision Friday night, worth one point, but rebounded with a 3-1 win in Caledonia Saturday night, to extending the chasm between first and second place by three more points.
The friction between the Falcons and Corvairs which began Friday night, carried over to Saturday night for a chippy, low scoring game.
The Corvairs doubled up on the Falcons in shots on goal, 15-6, but only came out with a 1-0 lead, that by Connor Patton’s goal at 1:26.
Erick Delaurentis made it 2-0 at 4:30 of the second from Tyler Lapore and Matt Hore. A Falcons’ powerplay was rewarded with Nicholas Dozzi getting his team on the board at 15:03.
Caledonia closed the period with a powerplay goal of their own with Kyle Tanev scoring at 17:09, from Mitch Purdie and Connor Bramwell.
There was no scoring in the third as the Corvairs held off the Falcons for the win.
Friday night, the Corvairs looked lethargic compared to their usual high intensity offense in the first leg of the home-and-home series in St. Kitts.
Even so, they were able to squeeze out a point as they lost 4-3 in overtime after Corvairs’ Luke Sinclair sent the game into OT at 18:39. But Tyler Morrison gave the Falcons the extra point at 3:33 of the extra frame.
This coming weekend, Caledonia has a Friday night date with the Ancaster Avalanche at the Haldimand Centre, for a 7:30 p.m. start. Saturday, they take it on the road to Fort Erie to face the Meteors.
The defending Sutherland Cup Corvairs are so far ahead of the pack it would take a total collapse between now and their last regular season game Feb 21st to remove them from top spot.
