Brandon Caputo
The Niagara Falls Canucks opened their second preseason as part of the Ontario Junior Hockey League at home on Friday Night, welcoming the Milton Menance to the Gale Centre.
A weird start to the night as a power outage in parts of Niagara Falls put the game at question but was ultimately back up and running around 6:00 EST, allowing the game to proceed with a 7:15 puck drop, only 15 minutes later than the anticipated start time.
Canucks starting lineup:
F Ryan Cooper
F Lucas Sauve
F Parker Forlin
D Charlie Robinson
D Jake English
G Iain Wintle
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Niagara Falls would open the scoring just under ten minutes into the contest as Adam Bignucolo would feed a pass from the left half wall that found Kasen Beitz wide open in front of the net, who made no mistake as he wristed it past the Menace goaltender.
A trio of penalties allowed Milton to take advantage on a powerplay as they would bury one past Wintle with one second remaining in the man advantage on a one timer from the left hash to even up the game 1-1.
Brandon Gauthier would tip the point shot from Brayden Scibor and it would squeak by the goaltender to give the Canucks a late-period lead going into the room.
After the Menace had tied it up early in the middle frame, Lucas Sauve would receive a tripping penalty and Milton would capitalize once again on a point shot that was redirected in front of Wintle, giving the visitors a 3-2 lead. Milton's second powerplay maker of the game along with a lead, despite Niagara Falls being up handily in the shots on goal department.
However, the Canucks would score late in the period once again, as they did in the first when Parker Forlin took the pass from Lucas Sauve and buried it in front to even the game up 3-3 going into the second intermission.
In the final period Taye Ladislao would skate into the zone with speed and found Kasen Beitz for the redirection to give the Canucks a 4-3 lead, Beitz' second tally of the game and a big one at that time in the contest.
The Canucks would continue to put the pressure on as Ben Taylor found Matt Campanella in the high slot, who wristed it home to extend the Niagara Falls lead to two, in the ladder half of the third period.
Newcomer forward and former Buffalo Jr. Sabre Cole Bailey would put icing on the cake for the Canucks late in the game, finishing the passing play from Brandon and Jesse Gauthier on a late powerplay for Niagara Falls' sixth goal, all set up due to frustration from a Menace player knowing the game was out of reach late.
Niagara Falls opened their preseason with a decisive 6-2 victory, outshooting Milton by an astonishing 71-21 total while Iain Wintle made 18 saves on route to victory in the Canucks net.
Canucks Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach Frank Pietrangelo was pleased in the postgame but knows that they cannot get too ahead of themselves after one exhibition game. "We're obviously happy with the result but it's exhibition season and we know they didn't have their full club in there (like us) and it's just a matter of us playing a proper way," Pietrangelo said. "I thought our game was really good tonight, we had 60-70 shots and we've got to build on this now."
Pietrangelo also talked about his squad being able to control the pace of play with their relentless puck movement and zone time leading to such a lopsided shots on goal category on this night.
"We did play very well as far as that goes, all four lines continued to get pucks in deep behind their defense and our forecheck was really good," Pietrangelo said. "We cycled the puck well, we had a ton of chances but we probably could have scored 10 plus goals tonight."
"Once again, it's not about the opponent, the result, or the score, or anything else; it was about how we played so that's what we're happy about is that we came out, played a consistent game with four lines and throughout the 60 minutes," Pietrangelo added. "It was good to see, we have to build on this with a full week (of practice) and we'll see where we're at next week."
The Canucks will play three games in three nights next week beginning on the road in Oakville on Friday, before welcoming Burlington and Oakville into the Gale Centre on Saturday and Sunday, both 3pm starts at the Gale Centre.
The Canucks experienced head coach knows that this is not the time for celebration, although they will take the positives from this opening game and try to build off of it as they continue to develop positive habits for once the regular season begins, having such a new cast of players still coming together as a cohesive unit for 2024-25.
"We've seen this now, we've only been together for four days but we've seen this from day one," Pietrangelo said. "These guys are hungry, they like each other, they like being around one another. It's great camaraderie on the bench and in the dressing room, so I think that's a big part of hockey and success that the players are pulling for each other and trying to help each other. A lot of positive things and we've got to continue to build on all of those things going forward here."
Player of the Game brought to you by Daniel and Partners LLP:
Forward Kasen Beitz (2 goals)
Honourable Mention: Brandon Gauthier (1 goal, 1 assist)
Make sure to check out our weekly episodes of The Beaver Dam Podcast: The Official Podcast of the Niagara Falls Canucks. Hosted by colour commentator Matt Sanderson. Available on all audio podcast platforms.
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