Playing on home ice, the St. Catharines Falcons locked down the Hamilton Kilty B’s for a 4-0 win in Game 3 of the Golden Horseshoe Finals on Friday night to take a 2-1 series lead.
After splitting the first two games in Hamilton, the Falcons used their home advantage to full effect, clogging up the small neutral zone and holding the offensive blueline to stifle the Kilty B’s breakout.
St. Catharines held Hamilton to just three shots in the first period, and the teams headed to the first intermission in a scoreless tie. Just five minutes into the second, James Eng opened the scoring for the Falcons, fishing the puck out from a scrum on an offensive zone faceoff and beating Hamilton starter Gage Stewart. It was all the Falcons would have needed on the night, but they weren’t done.
A few minutes later, Logan O’Flanaghan added to the tally with a point shot that found its way past a screened Stewart and into the net for his fourth of the postseason. Noah Reinhart added a power play goal a little later on in the period, which say the Kilty B’s break down both defensively and when it came to discipline. They took five minor penalties just in the middle frame, which is a recipe for disaster against the top power play unit in the GOJHL.
Stewart got the yank for Braedyn McIntosh after the third goal midway through the second period, the starter exiting after allowing three goals on 25 shots. The switch didn’t make much of a difference, as although McIntosh only let one past him – an O’Flanaghan one-timer in the third – on eight shots, Hamilton only mustered thirteen overall on the night, none which were especially challenging for Andrew MacLean in the St. Catharines net.
