St. Catharines Mountainview Homes Falcons

Falcons stomp Blackhawks!

24-Mar-2006 · 10:00pm

The Thorold Blackhawks took a commanding 3-1 semifinal series lead after beating the Falcons 6-1 in the Thorold Arena Thursday night. The Falcons regrouped on Friday, and took to the ice for Game #5 inside the Jack Gatecliff Arena, realizing they had a must-win situation before them.

An early penalty on the Blackhawks' captain Chris Risi for tripping, and the Falcons were able to capitalize on the man-advantage as Chris Stevenson notched his first goal of the postseason on a pass from Falcons forward Mike Chmielewski. The Falcons recorded the power-play goal at the 1:51 minute mark of the first period.

Another penalty for the Blackhawks, but time had just expired as Dan Marwick netted his second goal of the playoffs, at even-strength, from Falcons defenseman Danny Williams. The 16:14 marker gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead going into the dressing room for the first intermission.

The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead just under 5 minutes into the second period, when Mike Chmielewski grabbed his second point of the night and 8th goal of the postseason at 4:41. Chmielewski beat Blackhawks goaltender Sean Ramanauskas going upstairs with his shot, with assists going to Nick Petriello and Danny Williams on the play.

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	TOTAL
	0	0	2	2
	2	3	1	6

Under just 1:30 later, St. Catharines jumped to a 4-0 lead when Dan Marwick scored his second goal of the game, third of the playoffs. Falcons captain Kelsey Blinkhorn and forward Chris Stevenson added helpers on the play, sending the Falcons fans inside the Jack Gatecliff Arena into a frenzy!

Blackhawks forward John Falzoi was ejected from the game for a 5 minute high-sticking penalty at 15:58 of the same period, to the delight of most fans wearing red Friday night. Jordan Nolan was also ejected for the same infraction, offsetting Falzoi's penalty.

Dan Marwick

The Falcons netted their 2nd power-play goal of the night at 17:43 of the second period. Danny Williams scored his first goal of the playoffs, with an assist going to Nick Petriello. The power-play goal gave the Falcons a 5-0 lead over the Blackhawks. The score remained the same going into the second intermission.

The Blackhawks pulled their goaltender Ramanauskas at the start of the third period, giving #29 Kelsey McLean a chance in net for the remaining 20 minutes of play. Ramanauskas allowed 5 goals on 23 shots.

Less than 6 minutes into the third period, the Falcons scored their 6th goal of the game from Nick Petriello. At the 5:51 minute mark, it was Petriello's 3rd point of the night, while Mike Chmielewski assisted on the play which resulted in his third point of the evening.

The Blackhawks finally solved Falcons netminder Sean Hall at the 8:51 mark of the third period on a goal from Joey Martin, with an assist to Steve Zmudczynski. The Falcons remained up 5 goals on the Blackhawks at 6-1 with 11:09 remaining in the period.

Thorold scored a power-play goal with 6:28 remaining in the third period while Mike Chmielewski was serving a 2 minute slashing penalty and a 10 minute misconduct. Rob McLaren gave Thorold their second goal of the night, with assists going to Joey Martin and Steve Zmudczynski.

Sean Hall stopped 24 of 26 Thorold shots Friday night, while the Blackhawks turned away 24 of 30 shots, with a combined effort of Ramanauskas and McLean.

The next game of the series takes place Sunday night in Thorold, with the puck dropping at 7:00pm sharp! Tickets will be on sale for Game #6 at the Thorold Arena between 2pm and 4pm on Sunday.