By Ken Pagan
The Hamilton Kilty B’s took care of some important business early, leaving Pelham Saturday afternoon with a pair of wins in a 24-hour span to get a head start on the the 2019-20 seaso.
With four points in the bank, the focus turns to Monday night\s home-opener against the rival St. Catharines Falcons.
Steven Laforme crashed the net to tip-home the game-winner with 6:33 remaining as the Kilty B’s pulled out a 4-3 win over the Elmira Sugar Kings early Saturday.
Andrew Salt scored a pair of power-play goals to key the offence, while goaltender Justin Easter piled up 30 saves as the Sugar Kings outshot Hamilton 33-15.
Speedster Ellis Rickwood also sniped for the Kilty B’s. who gave general manager Brian Rizzetto a nice birthday present with the win. . Hunter Dubecki, Kurtis Goodwin and Brody Waters scored for Elmira.
“You can never be upset with two wins, no matter how you get them,” said Kilty B’s head coach John Barrett. “I was expecting the guys to just kind of be feeling things out, since it’s the first time we’ve played as a team. Getting two wins is massive for us and it puts us on the right side of the standings so we’re not running uphill to start the season.”
All 26 teams in the GOJHL’s three divisions are playing a pair of games at the showcase in Pelham before the divisional schedule begins.
On Friday, goaltender Matteo Drobac stopped 43 of 45 shots and Christian Pelley scored twice as the Kilty B’s opened the season with a 3-2 win over the Komoka Kings.
Forward Justin Monteith scored the first goal of the season for the Kilty B’s in the win. Dario Beljo and Cameron Welch scored for Komoka.
The Kilty B’s, who have revamped the roster with a fresh cohort of young skilled players after putting up a 35-12-1 record last season, host the reigning Golden Horseshoe Conference champion St. Catharines Falcons for Monday night’s home-opener. Good seats are still available.
