Niagara Falls opens the entire OJHL schedule Thursday in Oakville before hosting Caledon at the Gale Centre on Friday night, with 10 players from the Niagara Region in the lineup
The Niagara Falls Canucks saved their best hockey of the exhibition season for the end of it.
After dropping their first three games at the Gale Centre, the Canucks won their last two, beating the Buffalo Jr. Sabres 7-4 at LECOM Harborcenter on August 27 and the Oakville Blades 3-2 at home the following night to finish the preseason at 2-3. They scored 10 goals in those two games after managing five in the first three.
None of it counts, and five exhibition games is a small sample. But the shape of it matters to a team that opens its regular season in front of a hometown crowd on Friday.
Ten from home
Ten players on the Canucks’ roster grew up in the Niagara Region, four of them in Niagara Falls itself. The rest come from St. Catharines, Welland, Virgil and Fort Erie, and OHL teams have drafted four of the 10.
Three came up through the Niagara Falls Minor Hockey Association: forwards Will Fyfe and Alex Bedic, and defenceman Max DeCoff of Fort Erie, the newest signing.
That was the argument when the Canucks applied to move up from junior-B in 2023, and it is the one they keep making: a Niagara kid should not have to leave home to play at this level. On Friday, 10 of them will not have to.
Baldinelli, Gates and Diodati to drop the puck
MP Tony Baldinelli, MPP Wayne Gates and Mayor Jim Diodati will take the ice before the game for the ceremonial opening faceoff, marking the start of the Canucks’ fourth season as a junior-A team.
Niagara Falls has the OJHL to itself the night before. The league schedule opens Thursday, September 3 with a single game, the Canucks in Oakville, before the other 23 teams begin play.
Minor hockey players get in free
Every Niagara Falls Minor Hockey Association player wearing a Canucks game jersey is admitted free on Friday. Every Niagara Girls Hockey Association player wearing a Rapids game jersey is admitted free as well. Parents, siblings and friends pay regular admission at the door.
If you go
- Friday, September 4, 2026 — Gale Centre, Rink 1, 5152 Thorold Stone Road
- Box office opens at 6 p.m. · Warmups at 6:30 p.m. · Puck drop at 7 p.m.
- Niagara Falls Canucks vs. Caledon Admirals
- General admission $15, seniors and students $10, cash only. Children under five are free.
- NFMHA and NGHA players in their game jerseys are admitted free.
Exhibition results
- August 21 — Mississauga 2, Niagara Falls 1 (Gale Centre)
- August 22 — Georgetown 4, Niagara Falls 1 (Gale Centre)
- August 23 — Buffalo 5, Niagara Falls 3 (Gale Centre)
- August 27 — Niagara Falls 7, Buffalo 4 (LECOM Harborcenter)
- August 28 — Niagara Falls 3, Oakville 2 (Gale Centre)
Preseason record: 2-3. Goals for 15, goals against 17.
