Falcons shatter Blades

25-Jan-2008 · 9:50pm

Friday night was a first for many hockey fans inside Jack Gatecliff Arena. A pane of glass behind Falcons netminder Adrian Volpe was cracked during the warmup before the game and wasn't noticed until the end of the first period. The problem, however, was that the City of St. Catharines did not have a replacement for the larger panes attached to the boards that open for the Zamboni.

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	TOTAL
	0	1	2	3
	1	1	3	5

The result was atleast a 40 minute delay as arena staff scrambled to find a piece of plywood to replace the glass. Once the temporary fix was in place and the second period was underway, it was close to 9:00pm, 90 minutes after the opening faceoff. (Falcons facts: The first player to take a shot and hit the plywood was Falcons captain Kevin Floris.)

Back in the first period, Falcons forward Stephen Ceccanese scored the opening goal of the game with just 43 seconds left in the period while on the power-play. JT MacDonald and Kevin Floris assisted on the goal. The period ended with St. Catharines owning a 1-0 lead, while also outshooting the Wheatfield Jr. Blades 22-7.

Check out the game stats by clicking here...

The second period finally kicked off with a Wheatfield goal to tie the game 3:55 into the period. Matt Terreri (APM) scored Wheatfield's first goal, unassisted. The Falcons grabbed the lead again, this time from Chris Stevenson, on the power-play, from Andre Abayof and Daultan Leveille. The Falcons owned the shots on net at 42-12 after 40 minutes of play.

SHOTS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	TOTAL
	7	5	9	21
	22	20	14	56

Daultan Leveille scored his 26th of the season at 6:16 of the third period to give St. Catharines a 3-1 lead. Brad Jackson assisted on the marker. Wheatfield bounced right back to come within one goal when Ian Chapman beat Falcons netminder Volpe at 7:24 while on the power-play. Blades defenseman Chris Williams assisted on the goal.

The Falcons notched another two goal lead in the third period, jumping up 4-2 over the Blades with Ceccanese's second goal of the game at 10:38, with helpers from Kevin Floris and Vladimir Bessonov.

JT MacDonald grabbed a power-play goal to give St. Catharines a 5-2 lead before Wheatfield scored a power-play goal of their own to make the final score 5-3 for the Falcons after 60 minutes of play. One of the longest Falcons regular season games in recent memory, the game concluded at 10:15pm.

Attendance inside Jack Gatecliff Arena Friday night was announced at 560 fans.

The Falcons next game is Saturday, January 26th, when they travel to Port Colborne to face the Sailors. Game time is 7:30pm sharp!