Predators wrap up regular season Friday at home

With one game left to play this Friday in their Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League regular season, the Niagara Predators are all but firmly ensconced in sixth place in the South Division.

Judging by the three games they completed last weekend - a win over Tottenham and two losses to the St. George Ravens, each decided by a single goal, two via a shootout - they are already in playoff mode. 

“It was a great weekend,” head coach Kevin Taylor said Monday. “We’re playing some of our best hockey right now. We’re not putting the puck in the net a lot right now, but we’re playing tight games, we’re covering our men, we’re playing playoff hockey.”

The weekend started Friday night at home with a 1-0 loss to the Ravens. 

It was a classic goaltender’s battle, with St. George’s Justin Sheets and Niagara’s Zane Clausen clearly earning their first and second star post-game honours, respectively. Sheets kicked away all 34 shots on goal by the Preds, while Clausen made 30 saves himself. 

The game’s only goal came just under five minutes into the second period off the stick of the Ravens’ leading scorer Reece Furtado. A second after the Ravens won a faceoff in the Preds’ zone, Furtado got the puck and quickly found the far side of the net before Clausen had a chance to adjust to Furtado’s position.

“Their faceoffs have killed us all year,” Taylor said. “They use the same play, and for whatever reason we just haven’t been smart enough to pick it up. It’s a play they worked on, that they perfected, and we just never really had a chance to figure it out.”

The Preds visited fifth place Tottenham Saturday night and escaped with a 3-2 shootout victory. 

Isaac Locker scored the game’s first goal on a power play with about three minutes left in the first period. Nolan Wyers put the Preds up 2-0 in the second, but Alexis Paradis got the Railers on the board in the final two minutes during a Tottenham power play.

Ryan Anderson netted the tying goal with five minutes remaining in the third, forcing the overtime period, which ended scoreless. Preds forward Declan Fogarty, Niagara’s first shooter, was the game’s hero in the shootout with a last second deke to goalie Nicolas Perrault’s blocker side and a quick backhand around his outstretched leg. Clausen stopped all three Tottenham attempts. 

It was a chippy game in the first and second periods, with 47 penalty minutes served and a game disqualification for Niagara’s Tyler Gearing. 

“A lot of questionable calls on both sides,” Taylor opined. “We battled for that win. We had them 2-0, the penalties helped let them back in, and Declan scored a beautiful shootout goal for the win.”

It was another shootout Saturday in St. George, but this time the opposing team came out on top. 

Again, the Preds scored first. It was Nicholas Nicoletti who tucked in a rebound off of Ravens’ goaltender Gleb Rakov to put the Preds on the board. 

Cole Ellis responded for the Ravens in the second with a power play goal, while the third period ended scoreless. It was Owen Toddington who beat Preds’ goalie Mike Mankowski for the shootout win. 

“It was probably one of the best games I’ve seen the guys play in a while,” Taylor said. “We only had 11 forwards and four defencemen. Players like Wyers played with a real edge. We were missing some top forwards and top defenders. I was really happy with how the guys played.”

The Preds are two points behind Tottenham in the standings. Niagara finishes the season at home Friday against first-place North York, while the Railers face the last place Toronto Flyers Saturday. Barring any wild, high scoring upsets in those games, Niagara will face third-place Durham in Oshawa for the first game of a best-of-three playoff series on Monday, February 19.

“I think we match up well with them,” Taylor said. “We beat them twice. We know we’re going to have to play a disciplined, 1-2-2 system, clog up the middle and play from there. That’s what we focused on yesterday. And we’re going to do the same thing Friday against North York.”

Taylor is looking to Wyers to continue his strong play as the team heads into the playoffs, and is hoping other team leaders will be the difference against the Renegades Friday, as well as the Roadrunners. 

“We need (Luca) Fernandez to find his scoring touch again,” said Taylor. “And Logan Baillie, I’ve really been impressed with how he’s come along. We need him to continue to play the strong defensive game that we need from him, to continue to be a shut-down defenceman. That will allow guys like (Guy) Manco, (Nick) Savoie and (Dylan) Denning to focus on putting the puck into the net.”

The Preds close out the regular season Friday night at 7 p.m. at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena.