After falling behind two games to one, the St. Catharines Falcons reeled off three straight victories to capture the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) Eastern Conference Championship in six games over the Fort Erie Meteors.
It’s the first Eastern Conference title after the GOJHL revamped the league this year, going from three conferences to two.
“As coaches we are proud of the guys in that room,” explained Falcons Head Coach Tyler Bielby to The Niagara Independent.. “They worked hard all year and it’s great to see them accomplish the first part of their overall goal. Fort Erie is a good team and with the addition of more teams in the conference, we are honoured to be the first recipient of the Tyson Downs Trophy. The boys earned their accomplishment, enjoyed it for a couple days, and now on to the next part of our journey.”
St. Catharines will now play the winner of the Chatham/St. Mary’s Western Conference final as the two sides will battle in Game 7 Tuesday night.
“We are eager to get the Suthy started and look forward to playing Chatham or St. Mary’s,” Bielby said. “They are both at this stage for a reason and we have to be well prepared to compete against the winner from the West. We will have a good week of practice and be ready to get right back at it.”
The Falcons are not only led by captain Cameron Lowe off the ice, the 21-year old Niagara Falls native also leads all GOJHL scorers with 24 points in 15 playoff games.
“Our strength so far has been our depth and a solid foundation from our goaltending up. Our leaders, starting with captain Lowe have been leading by example both on and off the ice. When your older guys are showing up every night, that’s an easy train to latch on to for the young guys. They are still learning in the moment and we will need to continue to learn if we want to accomplish our final goal,” said Bielby.
St. Catharines goaltender Hayden Jeffery leads all active goaltenders in wins with 12, goals against average at 2.01 and save–percentage at .931.
This will be the Falcons’ 19th league/conference championship since the franchise was formed in 1968. They will be making their ninth appearance in the Sutherland Cup finals, seeking their third championship after winning in 2012 and 2022.
“We don’t have any details on the schedule until we have an opponent,” Bielby added. “That being said, we could start as early as Thursday on the road and will most likely host a game on the weekend at some point. Cross that bridge over the next 36 hrs.
We will be ready.”
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
