Secondary scoring of primary importance

Higher seeds lived up to their billing when the semifinals in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference resumed Monday night.

At St. Catharines, the top-seeded Falcons edged the No. 4 seed Caledonia, 3-2, in a back-and-forth thriller that featured hard hits all over the ice and fierce scrambles for the puck in front of the net.

Zach Mizzi opened the scoring for the host Falcons before an announced crowd of 713 at Seymour-Hannah Sorts and Entertainment

Centre with his second goal in as many playoff games after scoring only one goal in 43 regular-season games.

St. Catharines head coach Tyler Bielby said the coaches talked about there always seems to be a player who shows up in the playoffs.

“We had a hunch that it might be Miz. So far he’s got a couple of big goals for us in the series, it’s awesome,” Bielby said. “It was a long year for Miz. He probably saw fewer minutes than he’s used to and going through the dues as a first-year guy with us.”

Mizzi, who also found the back of the net in a 2-1 overtime win in Game 2 Saturday night in Caledonia, was only too happy to lend a helping hand.

“It feels so great to help the boys out. Those were two big goals for me and I felt I got the boys going there,” the 18-year-old forward from Burlington said. “They picked me up all season, so I’m just happy to help them now. I’m happy to do anything that the coaches and the staff need me to do.”

Bielby said the importance of scoring throughout the lineup cannot be underestimated, especially in the playoffs.

‘‘ Those were two big goals for me and I felt I got the boys going there.

ZACH MIZZI

ST. CATHARINES FALCONS FORWARD

“Other teams are always going to scheme against your top lines. They’re going to check them a little closer,” he said. “I think winning teams always have depth, they can score from all four lines.”

Bielby wasn’t surprised Game 3 featured hard hits from the opening whistle until the final buzzer.

“It’s playoffs, it’s going to be a physical game, and we listened. We got those guys,” he said. “At the end of the day, we can handle ourselves when it gets physical, and I thought we did that tonight. There was good pushback and we won those battles.”

Team captain Jonah Boria and Blake Yetman added power-play markers and St. Catharines hung on for its second one-goal victory in a row to take a 2-1 lead in the bestof-seven series.

Ryan O’Donnell, 18:52 into the first period, and Dylan Dekoe, with nine seconds remaining in regulation, replied for the Corvairs, who outshot the Falcons 38-24.

“There were a couple of moments when we were scrambling, but we got pucks out and got pucks below their goal line,” Bielby said. “Really there wasn’t much of a threat until the last two minutes.”

Aidan Berry, who stopped 15 shots in the third period and 36 in all, earned the win. Tagged with the loss was Marek Pavlas, who allowed three goals on 13 shots before being replaced midway into the second period. Keegan Jackson held the Falcons scoreless the rest of the way, stopping all 11 shots he faced.

St. Catharines went 2-for-5 on the power play; Caledonia, 0-for-4.

Game 4 is a 7:30 p.m. puck drop Wednesday at Haldimand County Caledonia Centre with the fifth game getting underway Friday in St. Catharines at 7 p.m.

Also up 2-1 heading into Game 4 are the No. 2 seed Hamilton Kilty B’s, who tripled the visiting Fort Erie Meteors, 3-1, before 362 fans at Dave Andreychuk Arena.

Hamilton’s Aaron Chiarot and Fort Erie’s Kyle Adamo traded goals following a scoreless first period.

Matthew Duarte netted the eventual game-winner on the power play with 22 seconds remaining in the second period. Nathan Phillips added an insurance goal at the 18:37 mark of the third period.

David Egorov stopped 27 of 28 shots for the win between the pipes for the Kilty B’s. Josh Smith made 23 saves for the third-seeded Meteors, including stopping Dawson McKinney on a penalty shot 8:45 into the game. Fort Erie was held scoreless on six opportunities with a man advantage. Hamilton went 1-for-3 on the power play.

Game 4 is 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Fort Erie Leisureplex with Hamilton hosting the fifth game the following night, also at 7 p.m.