The St. Catharines Novice A Falcons are playing their best hockey of the year at the right time and have extended their unbeaten streak to a season-high four games after beating the West Lincoln Wrath 6-1 on Friday night and then tying the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves in a 6-6 thriller on Tuesday evening.
Our Falcons dominated the Wrath on Friday night in Smithville from the opening draw and scored just over two minutes into the contest. Charlie Barnowski scored off a feed from Evan Bosela to give the team an early lead!
The Falcons would add another two and a half minutes later, with Ben Grohnwald scoring off assists from Chris Crowe and Chase Dayaram and the team would hold onto that 2-0 advantage heading into the second period.
St. Catharines would notch another one, as Rhys McAdam would tally off an assist from Evan Bosela, allowing the Falcons to hold a 3-0 lead heading into the final frame.
West Lincoln would finally solve goaltender Quinton Burkley with just under nine minutes remaining in the game but the Falcons would quickly get that back, courtesy of Quinton's brother Preston Burkley, who went end-to-end to score his own unassisted goal, restoring the three goal advantage.
The Falcons weren't done though!
With just under four minutes remaining, Rhys McAdam fed Dante DiFranco and he scored a beauty to make the score 5-1 and then with just twenty seconds remaining, Ben Grohnwald fed Sammy Evangelista and he put a final puck past the West Lincoln goaltender to give the Falcons a convincing 6-1 win! Quinton Burkley made several outstanding saves in perhaps his finest outing of the year to help confirm the win.
Then, on Tuesday night, the Falcons travelled to Centennial Arena in Virgil to take on the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves. This one was a goaltender's worst nightmare, with plenty of end-to-end rushes on both sides and tons of goals.
The Wolves would open the scoring just under two minutes in to take the early lead but our Falcons would come roaring back less than a minute later, as Sammy Evangelista would complete a gorgeous passing play to tie the game at one. Ben Grohnwald and Chris Crowe set the play up from the defensive zone.
The Falcons would take the lead exactly four minutes later. Again, some marvelous passing was on display, as Chris Crowe started the play to Sammy Evangelista, who then fed Evan Bosela, who stormed in and fired a shot through the legs of the Wolves keeper for the 2-1 lead!
Not to be outdone, the Niagara-on-the-Lake would come storming back, scoring the tying goal with just under two minutes remaining in the period and then laid down a dagger, scoring again with only five seconds left to take the 3-2 lead into the second period. Shots after one period favoured the Wolves 7-4.
The second period would be all St. Catharines though! The Falcons got a huge break just under three minutes into the period. A Wolves defender tried to clear the puck behind the goal and instead it hit the side of the net and bounced right onto the stick of Rhys McAdam, who calmly deposited the puck past the goaltender for the tying goal!
Just a minute and a half later, the Falcons would regain the lead. Rhys McAdam won the puck on the boards, made a quick feed to Evan Bosela, who then passed the puck into the slot to Sammy Evangelista and he wired a low shot into the far corner of the net for his second of the night! The Falcons outshot Niagara-on-the-Lake 7-5 in the period.
St. Catharines would keep up the inspired play and score again two and a half minutes into the final frame. Sammy Evangelista brought the puck towards goal and his shot was saved by the goaltender. However, there was a rebound and Evan Bosela pounced on it, sending it into the net for his second of the evening to give the team its first two goal lead of the game!
Another great passing play would result in the Falcons sixth goal of the evening. Evan Bosela won a puck battle along the right boards and fed the puck to Chris Crowe behind the net. He smartly found Sammy Evangelista in the slot and he turned around and sent a low shot into the far corner of the goal for his HAT TRICK and the 6-3 lead!!!
The determined and aggressive Wolves would come roaring back, however, scoring their fourth goal a minute later which set up a furious rally late in the game. They'd score again on a redirection from behind the goal with just under three minutes remaining then score a final marker with their goaltender on the bench in favour of an extra attacker to tie the game at six. The Wolves would outshoot St. Catharines 16-10 in that wide-open third period and 28-21 overall.
The one point acquired in the 6-6 tie guaranteed the Falcons a spot in the upcoming Niagara District Hockey League's Group B Championship Series!!! The Falcons still have one game remaining in the playoff round robin against Niagara Falls on Friday night at Seymour-Hannah, with the Championship series beginning near the end of March. The Falcons opponent will either be the Niagara Falls Flyers or the Fort Erie Meteors, depending on the outcome of the final round robin games this weekend.
Congratulations to all 13 of our Novice A Falcons on this incredible achievement! GO FALCONS!
GAME SUMMARIES
2/24/17: 6-1 WIN OVER WEST LINCOLN
GOALS: Charlie Barnowski, Ben Grohnwald, Rhys McAdam, Preston Burkley, Dante DiFranco, Sammy Evangelista
ASSISTS: Evan Bosela (2), Chris Crowe, Chase Dayaram, Rhys McAdam, Ben Grohnwald
2/28/17: 6-6 TIE AGAINST NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
GOALS: Sammy Evangelista (3), Evan Bosela (2), Rhys McAdam
ASSISTS: Chris Crowe (3), Evan Bosela (2), Sammy Evangelista (2), Ben Grohnwald, Rhys McAdam