Game 2, Eastern Conference Championship Series
(1) St. Catharines Falcons 2
(3) Fort Erie Meteors 4
(best-of-7 series tied 1-1)
Two second period goals the difference for Meteors in series-tying win
All-star forward Sam Tonelli scored the eventual game winner late in the second period and added an assist to extend his point streak to 7 games as the Meteors (9-3) tied the series in front of a season-high crowd of 2000 at the Fort Erie Leisureplex. The Falcons (9-2) had their 8-game playoff win streak snapped.
John Lloyd (W, 9-3) made 27 saves for the Meteors. Hayden Jeffery (L, 9-2) stopped 30 of 33 shots faced for the Falcons.
The Falcons’ Matt Fries (1) and the Meteors’ Aiden Zimmerman (4) traded first period goals. Zac Mizzi‘s unassisted goal — his first of the playoffs — at 13:45 of the second period snapped the 1-1 tie and Tonelli’s goal 1:46 later made it 3-1. Nathan Duplessis (5) scored 8:47 into the third to pull the Falcons to within one, but Colton Radford (3) scored into an empty net to seal the win.
Brendan Grenville (10 games) and Cameron Lowe (8 games) had their respective point streaks snapped.
Insisting after Game 1 that his team “had more in the tank,” Meteors GM/head coach Nik Passero was very pleased with how his players responded in Game 2. “Proud of the bounce back in our group tonight. Our team got the real feeling of what it means to be a Fort Erie Meteor and playing in this town. Was a rollercoaster game, and I thought we handled our emotions really well.”
Falcons general manager Zack Schipper credited his team’s performance playing a big road playoff game in front of a large crowd. “I thought we played well in a tough environment. It was a great playoff hockey game. A few bounces didn’t go our way tonight. We will regroup and be ready on Tuesday night in front of our home fans.”
Game 3 will take place Tuesday night at the the Seymour-Hannah S.E.C. Game time is 7:00pm.
The Western Conference Championship Series resumes with Game 2 on Sunday at 7:00pm when the #1 St. Marys Lincolns visit the #2 Chatham Maroons. The Lincolns lead the series 1-0.
