27-Mar-2006 · 12:45am

The St. Catharines Mountainview Homes Falcons had well over a dozen chances in four overtime periods Sunday night to send the semifinal best-of-seven series back to the Jack Gatecliff Arena for a seventh and final game.

Unfortunately, Thorold found the back of the net before St. Catharines, and at 14:47 of the 4th overtime period inside the Thorold Community Arena, Steve Zmudczynski of the Blackhawks netted the game and series winner on a breakaway all alone against Falcons netminder Sean Hall.

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	1OT	2OT	3OT	4OT	TOT
	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2

A tough loss to swallow for the Falcons after playing such a great game defensively after lacking in that area throughout most of the second round series. The shots were 49-35 in favour of Thorold, not including the shots from the 4th overtime period.

The first and second periods of the game were scoreless, but that was broken early in the third period when Chris Risi recorded a power-play goal at 1:15, with assists given to Zmudczynski and Steve Chappell.

The Falcons retaliated with a goal of their own, 14 seconds later at 1:29, when Falcons forward Nick Petriello beat Blackhawks goaltender Sean Ramanauskas to tie the game 1-1. Mike Chmielewski notched an assist on Petriello's 10th goal of the postseason.

The first overtime period, which ran 10 minutes long, did not develop a game winner. As well, the second or third 20 minute overtime periods could not produce a winning goal and so the teams hit the dressing room for their 5th intermission.

It looked as if the two teams were headed to an 8th period, or 5th overtime period, until the Blackhawks scored the winning goal with 5:13 left to play in the period.

GHL PLAYOFFS - ROUND #2 - THOROLD WINS SEMIFINAL SERIES (4-2)
GM	DAY	DATE	AWAY	SCORE	HOME
1	FRI	17-Mar-06	THOROLD	2 - 3	ST CATHARINES
2	MON	20-Mar-06	ST CATHARINES	1 - 9	THOROLD
3	TUE	21-Mar-06	THOROLD	5 - 4	ST CATHARINES
4	THU	23-Mar-06	ST CATHARINES	1 - 6	THOROLD
5	FRI	24-Mar-06	THOROLD	2 - 6	ST CATHARINES
6	SUN	26-Mar-06	ST CATHARINES	1 - 2	THOROLD

Another disappointing early exit from postseason play for the Falcons, but a well played series should not leave a sour taste lingering too long! With the series winning goal, the Blackhawks move on to face the Niagara Falls Canucks in the best-of-seven GHL final series.

The Falcons organization would like to thank all the fans and sponsors who supported us this season and we hope to see you back this September to kick off the next Golden Horseshoe League season!

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#	DATE	RECENT FALCONS MATCH-UPS	SCORE
P9	23-Mar-2006	Game 4 - ST CATHARINES @ THOROLD	6 - 1 L
P10	24-Mar-2006	Game 5 - THOROLD @ ST CATHARINES	6 - 2 W
P11	26-Mar-2006	Game 6 - ST CATHARINES @ THOROLD	2 - 1 L

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GHL PLAYOFFS - ROUND #1 - ST. CATHARINES DEFEATS FORT ERIE (4-1)
GM	DAY	DATE	AWAY	SCORE	HOME
1	FRI	03-Mar-06	FORT ERIE	1 - 6	ST CATHARINES
2	SAT	04-Mar-06	ST CATHARINES	4 - 3	FORT ERIE
3	TUE	07-Mar-06	FORT ERIE	5 - 2	ST CATHARINES
4	WED	08-Mar-06	ST CATHARINES	4 - 3	FORT ERIE
5	FRI	10-Mar-06	FORT ERIE	1 - 5	ST CATHARINES