New players spark Preds' scoring barrage

Niagara Predators coach Kevin Taylor may just have found what he was looking for. 

After losing their third straight game last week, Taylor told The Local he was still searching for “that guy who can put the team on his back and find a way to win”. This week, the Preds signed East Aurora, New York native Gehrig Lindberg. The defenseman tallied three goals and two assists Saturday night in Niagara’s 11-8 win against the Tottenham Railers.

“We had our eye on this guy for a while,” Taylor says. “He’s phenomenal. He had to go down to a Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) camp first. When he became available, Rob (owner and president Turnbull) brought him on,” 

Taylor says Lindberg, who was the captain of the Niagara Falls Canucks of the Greater Ontario Junior B Hockey League (GOJHL) last year, made an immediate impact in practice last week. 

“You could just tell there’s something special there,” raves Taylor. “His presence on the ice just changed the entire practice. I think he is that guy we’re looking for, and there’s still more in the player, more pieces of his puzzle, that remain for us to see.”

Lindberg only had one practice with the team before going on his scoring run in his debut Saturday night. 

“This is a good opportunity to further my skills and to further my career,” Lindberg says “I’m happy to be here, happy to help the team. They’re a great group of guys.”

Lindberg was paired up on the blueline for most of the game with Aidan Jones, but played a few shifts at forward as well. 

“I played a few games last year in Niagara Falls at forward,” he tells The Local. “I know all the roles and can help out where I’m needed.”

Gehrig hopes this stint with the Predators will lead to an opportunity to catch on with a professional team either in Europe or in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He is also working toward becoming a pilot, flying out of Buffalo International and Akron, NY Airport. 

Lindberg scored the Preds’ first goal early in the first period Saturday at Newmarket’s Ray Twinney Rec Centre. The Railers tied it up before the period ended, then a wild second period ensued. Ten goals were scored in that frame, six by Niagara, to take a 7-5 lead after 40 minutes. 

The third period was almost as wild, with the Predators outscoring Tottenham 4-3 in the final 20 minutes. 

“Our team defense was lacking,” Taylor admits. “There were a lot of rebounds in our end, and our guys weren’t taking the man in front of our net. Tottenham got a lot of rebound goals. We didn’t help (goaltender Mike) Mankowski as well as we should have.”

Besides Lindberg’s hat trick, eight other Predators found the back of the Railers’ net. NOTL native Josh Frena, Rhys Jones, Isaac Locker, Dylan Denning, Luca Fernandez, Nick Savoie and Yakov Shevchenko all scored, as did Cameron Savoie in his first game back with the team since last season, when he notched 18 goals and 25 assists in only 25 games. 

“It’s great to have Cam back in the lineup,” says Taylor of the 21-year-old from St. Catharines who had been dealing with a shoulder injury since the end of the 2022-2023 season. “He adds a huge presence and brings leadership to the team.”

Savoie, in his final year of Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) eligibility, has been serving as the team’s equipment manager since week two of the young season. 

“I think Cam has the ambition to coach,” Taylor says. “He sees we have a young team and he wants to mentor some of the younger guys. He knows the game and he’s learning about what it takes to coach, too. We’re going to find a way to have him keep his role with the equipment and play at the same time.”

The 3-4-0 Preds have a busy weekend coming up, with three games on slate. They host the Northumberland Stars Friday night, visit Tottenham again on Saturday, then have a rare Sunday afternoon home game against the currently 10-0-0 North York Renegades. 

“It’ll be nice to have our first three-game weekend,” says Taylor. “We’ve been playing one game a week, and I think attention spans are pretty short these days. It’ll be great to have back-to-back-to-back games. There won’t be that memory lapse. I’m a firm believer that to do something right there has to be repetition.”

Game time Friday at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena is 7:30 pm.