Niagara Falls lost twice over the weekend, and Timofey Williams is the reason neither game got away.
The Canucks goaltender faced 98 shots across the two games and stopped 91 of them, 48 of 51 on Friday against Milton and 43 of 47 Sunday afternoon in King. Those are not two ordinary opponents. The Menace have lost once all season. The Rebellion have not lost at all. The two sit tied on points for third in the West Conference.
Friday at the Gale Centre, it was Niagara Falls that scored first. CJ Irwin beat Austin McKillop at 11:58 of the opening period off passes from Tim Marcotte and Lucas Nelson, and the Canucks protected that lead while being outshot 20-9. Milton tied it on the power play with 68 seconds left in the frame.
The second period was the Canucks’ best of the night. Neither team scored. Then Paul Mazanik put Milton ahead 83 seconds into the third and Chris Soares added a power-play goal at 8:32 for a 3-1 final.
Special teams decided it. Milton scored twice on four power plays. Niagara Falls went without on four of its own.
Sunday in King the start was harder still. The Rebellion outshot the Canucks 22-7 in the first period and led on Matthew Legge’s goal at 15:44.
By the second, Niagara Falls had found the game. Shots over those 20 minutes were 14-13 for King, and Rafek Dianov got one back at 17:52, his fifth of the season, set up by Jacob Greene and Brodie Wood. King answered on the power play with 13 seconds left in the period to lead 4-1.
That was the last goal of the afternoon. The Canucks held the league’s only unbeaten team off the board through the third period, and Williams was excellent throughout.
The pattern across both games was the same, and it is a fixable one. Niagara Falls was outshot 42-16 in the two first periods and 27-24 across the two second periods. The team is taking too long to arrive, then playing with the sort of urgency that ought to be there from the drop of the puck.
There is context for that. Thirteen of the 25 players on the Niagara Falls roster are rookies, and 13 of them are 18 or younger. Weekends like this one, against the teams sitting at the top of the standings, are where a group that young learns what the level asks of it. Those lessons are not cheap, but they are the kind that tend to show up later in a season.
Reinforcements are close. Forward Eric Bründl-Pandzich, hurt in Caledon the previous weekend, and defenceman David Greene, out since late last season, are both expected back in the lineup Friday.
They will be needed. Markham visits the Gale Centre on Friday at 7 p.m. carrying a perfect record at 7-0 and the top spot in the East Conference. The Royals have two of the five leading scorers in the OJHL in Chance Adams, tied for the league lead with 14 points, and Kayden Brand, fifth with 12.
The week does not ease up from there. The Canucks are in Georgetown on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and in Pickering on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Niagara Falls is 2-5-1-1 through nine games. The schedule has been unkind early, and a home date with the hottest team in the league is not the obvious place to turn it around. But the goaltending has been there, the team has competed for long stretches of every game, and two players who can help are expected back Friday.
