CALEDONIA — When the Caledonia Pro-fit Corvairs opened training camp they had 15 roster spots to fill due to players going overage and other veterans who have moved on to other leagues and teams.
The exodus included vets Mitch Purdie, who is now attending Worchester College in Maine, Tyler Lepore is at Morrisville College in NY, Ryan Blunt to University of Maine, Erick Delaurentis to Ryerson University Toronto, goalie Kevin Entmaa to Adrian College Michigan, Austin McEneny to the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, and Cosimo Fontana who signed a pro deal with Varese in Italy.
That left a a big hole for general manager Brian Rizzetto and coach Mike Bullard to fill, but judging by what has been shown so far, this year’s edition will not be taking a step backwards despite virtually a new team on the ice.
But when you are the repeating Sutherland Cup Champions, it’s not that hard to attract players looking for their Jr. B ring — and why not? Caledonia is a destination location for older players about to graduate from Jr. hockey into University or the minor pro’s who want to exit to the next level on a championship team.
The new Pro-fit Corvairs are 4-0 and have outscored their opponents 20-4 with their new lineup. Saturday night at home, Caledonia shut out Niagara Falls 4-0.
Jake Brown scored his third goal of the 2015 GOJHL Jr. B hockey season in Thorold, Thursday night to start Caledonia towards an eventual 5-2 win over the Black Hawks.
The penalty killers had a chance to shine after handing the Hawks eight extra man opportunities, and allowing just one, scored by Tyler Sehovic 40 seconds into the second period. Meanwhile, the Caledonia power play scored three of its five goals with the extra man. Matthew Hore and Cory Pawley netted two of them in the second at 9:26 and 10:42 respectively.
Nick Sacco scored Thorold’s second goal at the 13-minute mark but Riley Vanhome answered for Caledonia at 17:20.
So far this early season, it looks like the Corvairs are using their tried and true system of building a four-line team, with no real “stars”. After four games and four wins, the scoring has been broadly spread over the entire bench.
This week’s up-coming games include Friday, Sept. 25th, in Pelham, Saturday night Sept. 26th at home against Thorold, and Monday, Sept. 28th at home against Fort Erie.