Matt Sanderson
Source: Niagara Falls Canucks Website
After the most recent week the Niagara Falls Canucks had, I continue to love Hockey even more every single day. It just goes to show you that truly any given day, in any league any team can win or lose to another and it ultimately has people coming back for more.
Despite a tough season and a rough start to February Niagara Falls had one of their best weeks of the season. Now that the week has concluded there is only five games left on the year and Niagara Falls is not in the playoff picture, it is about finishing strong for every game going forward. The Canucks are on the right track so far with completing the task. Let’s take a look at the week that has passed:
Friday Night: The Caledon Admirals came to town, these two teams had duked it out throughout the season but Niagara Falls had the better record going into the final game of their series. Right from the drop of the puck Niagara Falls came out with purpose almost as if they were playing with a vengeance on their up and down season. Everything was clicking, passes were tape to tape, turnovers were capitalized upon and it just felt like everything fell into the Canucks favour as the final score ended at 11-2 Canucks. Niagara Falls scored three in the first period, five in the second and three in the third.
Caledon did not get on the score sheet until it was 9-0 and just before the halfway point in the final period. It was an all around shellacking by the Canucks who only had three players on their squad not record a point.
Of note, six players had a multi-point game, Wolf Giles (6 points), Cameron Lowe (5 points including a hat trick), Keegan Driscoll (5 points), Parker Forlin (4 points), Braeden O’Keefe (3 points) and Adrian Diodati (2 points). Now keep in mind, games like this do not happen very often, in fact, Niagara Falls was on the other end of a game like this in early December after losing 11-3 to Buffalo.
Saturday Night: Niagara Falls brought their offensive unit into Mississauga to play the Chargers but it was a much closer affair with the Canucks coming out with a Double Overtime win over the Chargers off the stick of ‘Captain Canuck' Cameron Lowe to win 4-3.
Monday Afternoon: With a lighter day on Sunday the Canucks went into their Family Day matinee game against the Trenton Golden Hawks with one thing in mind: win, which is something they certainly accomplished. Trenton is the second best team in the entire OJHL, they had clinched #1 seed in the East a while ago and the only thing in their sights was the top spot in the league. However, the Canucks had other things in mind, after an early 2-1 deficit in the first period, the Canucks stormed back in the second period with four goals and went into the final frame with a 5-3 lead. Trenton was in desperation mode, attacking Niagara Falls in the third and peppering Iain Wintle the Canucks net minder with shot after shot, but Wintle never wavered and the Canucks scored a final moments goal on an empty net to make it a 6-3 final.
Here is the point breakdown for the weekend:
Cam Lowe 10 points, Wolf Giles 9 points, Parker Forlin 9 points, Braeden O'Keefe 7 points and Keegan Driscoll 6 points, Iain Wintle stopped 73 of 78 shots. There are still more players who had a great weekend as the whole team put in 21 goals in 3 games and it was three solid full team efforts. Also, please keep in mind, points do not mean everything but sometimes it is nice to recognize some of the players who has breakout games.
Truly this felt like a weekend where Niagara Falls had everything in their favour and we are seeing this squad really come together down the stretch. As mentioned, there are only five games remaining on their schedule, four of those are at the Gale Centre and this team is just heating up. What a way to finish the year for the Canucks if they can peel off some more wins in the final games.
I have talked about it many times and I will say it again, this team is special, everyone except for Thomas Shain (who is the team’s lone 20 year old) are all eligible to return next season. If most or all of the club returns this will be a scary team to face going into next year.