The Fort Erie Meteors emerged victorious in the battle for second place Friday night.
The Meteors topped the St. Catharines Falcons 6-4 in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Seymour-Hannah Sports Complex and now lead the Falcons by two points for second place with a game in hand.
The Falcons dropped to 23-9-1-1.
“Felt good to get everyone involved,” Fort Erie general manager coach Nik Passero said. “Happy for the new guys to get their feet wet in this rivalry.
“I thought we were very sound defensively and our power play chipped in with a huge one.”
The Meteors raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and extended it to 4-0 in the second before the Falcons finally got on the board when Calvin Petrovsky scored late in the frame.
St. Catharines mounted a comeback, scoring a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the third by Tyler Hunt and newcomer Nathan Kelly. Hunter Coley gave Fort Erie a 5-3 lead before Brenden Anderson narrowed the gap to 5-4 before Georgy Toroptsev added an insurance marker at 16:52.
“Huge goal from Georgy there to give us some insurance,” Passero added. “Shutout to Zach Mizzi scoring another huge goal against his former team.”
Falcons general manager coach Tyler Bielby lamented his team’s poor start.
“It’s a 60-minute game and we didn’t show up for half of it,” he said. “It’s important that we take a little more pride in our compete and discipline. Thought Fort Erie was better at both things tonight and they were rewarded as a result.”
The Falcons are off until next Thursday when they visit Hamilton.
“Time to reset, learn, and be ready to go next week,” Bielby said.
The Meteors have another huge matchup at home Saturday versus the first-place Caledonia Corvairs.
“Have to get regrouped and be ready to go at home tomorrow,” Passero said.
Falcon facts: Mitch Dmytrow, Trent Vaillancourt, Jordan Marconi and Marcus Harris were scratched for the Falcons . . . Hamilton topped Port Colborne 4-1 in the other game Friday.
STATS PACK
Meteors 6 Falcons 4
St. Catharines Falcons: Tyler Hunt (15); Brenden Anderson (12); Calvin Petrovsky (11); Nathan Kelly (6).
Fort Erie Meteors: Liam Beamish (20); Hunter Coley (17); Nolan Stickland (5); Zach Mizzi (4); Dominic Di Francesco (2); Georgy Toroptsev (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By St. Catharines on Charlie Burns (27), by Fort Erie on Hayden Jeffery (31); Power plays: St. Catharines 0/4, Fort Erie 0/8; Penalty minutes: St. Catharines 37; Fort Erie 29.
Attendance: 448.
Up next: The Falcons are in Hamilton Thursday and back home next Friday against Welland. The Meteors are home to Caledonia Saturday.
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