The St. Catharines Falcons gutted out a close 4-2 win against the Thorold Blackhawks.

Each team kept the other at bay throughout the game, and Paolo De Sousa secured the win for St. Catharines with a goal in the third period.

The win gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series.

Thorold's power play was ineffective against St. Catharines' penalty kill, which allowed one goal while shorthanded.

The Falcons were led by De Sousa, who registered one goal. De Sousa scored 17:46 into the third period to make the score 3-2 St. Catharines. Cam Blakely provided the assist.

St. Catharines forced the Blackhawks goalie Josh Astorino to work between the pipes, taking 38 shots.

Others who scored for St. Catharines included Brock Ackerman, Jake Evans, and Tyler Hildebrant, who scored one goal each. In addition, St. Catharines received assists from Tyler Morrison, Tyler Jackson, and Devon Rymarchuk, who each chipped in one and Justin Felker and Brandon Cercone, who contributed two each.

Thorold was led by Anthony Postiglione, who tallied one goal and one assist. Postiglione scored short handed 11:22 into the second period to make the score 2-1 St. Catharines. The Blackhawks played down a man on Scott Dorion's inciting an opponent. Thorold also got a goal from Francois Plamondon as well. Other players who recorded assists for Thorold were Mitchell Mendonca, who had one.

The Falcons' Jonathan D Ilario stopped 20 shots out of the 22 that he faced. St. Catharines incurred 40 minutes in penalty time with 10 minors. Astorino recorded 34 saves for Thorold. The Blackhawks incurred 42 minutes in penalty time with 11 minors. Team's Jake Lloyd and Kyle Langdon were slapped with misconducts and ejected from the game.