The Fort Erie Meteors kept their slim hopes for finishing first alive with a 5-4 victory in Greater Ontario Hockey League action Saturday at Caledonia.
“I thought we played really well. We defended hard and got scoring from a bunch of different lines and a bunch of different areas. It was just a good, full team effort,” Meteors general manager/coach Nik Passero said. “I thought we did really well on a road game on a Sunday night at the end of the season where it’s a little tough to get up for probably but our guys found a way to get it done.
“It’s always good to beat those teams going into playoffs. We’ve only played them once in the last three months so it was just familiarizing ourselves with their new guys and how they like to play.”
The Meteors trail the Corvairs by five points for first place and must win their last three games of the regular season this week while Caledonia lose all their three games in order to finish first.
The Meteors host the Corvairs Tuesday, are at St. Catharines Friday and wrap up the season at home Saturday versus Hamilton.
The Corvairs are at Fort Erie Tuesday, home to Welland Saturday and at Welland Sunday.
Fort Erie can clinch second place with a win over the Falcons Friday or wins over Caledonia Tuesday and Hamilton Saturday.
Passero feels it is an advantage to be playing meaningful games heading into the playoffs.
“We’ve been playing playoff games here for the last two weeks. As long as we stay healthy and do things the right way, I don’t mind playing those teams going into the playoffs.”
Liam Beamish had two goals and an assist while Sam Tonelli, Georgy Toroptsev and Caleb Bidgood added singles.
Charlie Burns made 31 saves for the win.
Sami Douglas had two goals for the Corvairs while Brayden Russell and Clark Dunford also scored.
Tonelli scored in overtime Saturday in a 2-1 win over Welland.
R.J. Schmidt also scored for Fort Erie while Braden Carruthers netted Welland’s goal.
Falcons 6 Junior Canadians 2
The St. Catharines Falcons kept their hopes for second place alive with a win at Welland Sunday.
Colin Ewing, Caleb Thomson, Matthew Hlacar, Brenden Anderson, Treyson Dewar and Noah Read scored for the Falcons.
Hayden Jefferey continued his strong play in goal with a 32-save effort.
Will LePage and Carruthers replied for Welland.
Panthers 4 Sailors 1
The Pelham Panthers put an end to a nine-game losing streak with a win at home Sunday afternoon versus Port Colborne.
Brendan Grenville, Ty Boone, Max Schaubel and Josh Czalij scored for Pelham.
Tristian Chevalier scored the lone goal for Port.
Issac Grenville made 31 saves in a losing effort.
SATURDAY
Corvairs 9 Panthers 1
Markus Dempewolf, Jayden Lammel and Nathan Duplessis each scored two goals as the Corvairs topped the visiting Panthers.
Evan Bradacs, Tyler Savard and Noah Baltzer added singles.
Davis Penner made 27 saves for the win.
Noah Aboflan replied for Pelham.
THIS WEEK
TUESDAY
Caledonia at Fort Erie, 7:40 p.m.
THURSDAY
Port Colborne at Hamilton, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Fort Erie at St. Catharines, 7 p.m.
Pelham at Port Colborne, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Hamilton at Fort Erie, 4:30 p.m.
Welland at Caledonia, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
St. Catharines at Pelham, 2:45 p.m.
Caledonia at Welland, 7 p.m.
End regular season.
STANDINGS
Caledonia 37-8-1-1-76
Fort Erie 35-11-1-0-71
St. Catharines 34-12-1-1-70
Hamilton 22-22-4-0-48
Welland 15-29-4-0-34
Pelham 14-32-1-1-30
Port Colborne 11-32-4-1-27
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