Sam Williamson scored two goals and added an assist, and the St. Catharines Falcons downed the Chatham Maroons 5-1 to remain undefeated in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Sutherland Cup qualifying.
The Golden Horseshoe Conference champions can clinch first place in the three-team tournament and home ice for the best-of-three league final with a road win tonight over the Cambridge RedHawks.
Nicholas Rubino, Kyle Glenney and Jagger North also found the back of the net Friday night before an announced crowd of 919 at Jack Gatecliff Arena as the host Falcons improved to 2-0 in qualifying and 14-2 overall in post-season play.
Noah Szabo, on the power play, replied for the Western Conference champion Maroons, who fell to 1-2 and went winless in a home-and-home versus St. Catharines.
Falcons head coach Tyler Bielby was pleased with his team’s play in the offensive zone.
“I thought we really took advantage of our scoring chances,” he said. “We made some great plays and put pucks in the back of the net.”
Chatham outshot the Falcons 31-28 and went 1-for-4 with a man advantage. St. Catharines finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play.
Andrew MacLean made 30 saves in net for the Falcons, including 13 in a scoreless third period. The over-ager from Port Huron, Mich., the conference’s and the team’s most valuable player for the regular season, lowered his goals-against average in 16 playoff games to 1.53 while increasing his save percentage to .939.
The Falcons came back to edge the Maroons 3-2 in overtime in the opening game of qualifying on Tuesday in Chatham.
Friday night’s rematch, in comparison, wasn’t as dramatic. The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead and kept the Maroons off the scoreboard until the 10:18 mark of the second period.
Cambridge, which captured the junior-B league’s Midwestern Conference, opened the double round-robin Wednesday night with a 3-2 loss at home to Chatham.
The Maroons host Cambridge in a 3 p.m. matinee Sunday.
Qualifying wraps up…
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