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UPCOMING CAMPS |
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Conditioning
Camp
August 7th-9th, 2009
For players in the 1994 age group to the 1990 age
group, to get ready for the up-coming hockey season.
The camp will be scouted by the Raiders staff as well
as many area Jr. B teams.
For more information concerning the camp click
HERE!
Download Registration Form
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PLAYER PROSPECTS |
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If
you are interested in playing for the Nepean Raiders
Junior A Hockey Team, submit your information to
the Head Coach HERE. |
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED |
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We are currently looking for volunteers to assist in
the operations of the club for this season.
Details
HERE! |
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SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES |
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For
more information on how you can help support our
community Jr. A club click
HERE! |
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ALUMNI |
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Looking
for former Raiders!
If you were a former
Raider and would like to make you presence known
to your former club please click HERE for
details |
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| 2009-04-06 |
| Raiders grind their way to finals-opening victory |
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Even before the Nepean Raiders’ first game against the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the CJHL finals began, it was quite clear that this series would be far different than anything the team had seen before.
Parked outside the Nepean Sportsplex were two big red vans screaming “Rogers” on their side. The lot was so packed that fans struggled to find seats outside. Fans sitting in the middle of the stands were treated to a view of television cameras and play-by-play men. Of course, in order to enter, you needed to weave your way through hordes of visiting Pembroke fans that packed the arena to give it the feel of a road game.
Yet, in the midst of all this chaos, the game played out similarly to normal for the Nepean Raiders. Once again, they fell behind early. Once again, they battled back thanks to clutch goals.
Once again, for the twelfth consecutive match, the Raiders ended up on top, scratching and clawing their way to a 3-2 win, taking a 1-0 series lead.
Tavis Holden was thrilled with how his team performed. “We just showed the ability to battle today. We’re such a close team, and it really showed today.”
Nepean got goals from each member of their top line, with Scott Cowie, Tavis Holden, and Max Barron each putting the puck in the net. Pembroke replied with markers from Ted Pletsch and Sebastien Poirier.
Darren MacDonald started in goal for the Raiders, and put forth a Herculean effort, recording 30 saves on 32 shots. Eric Levine tended the net for the Lumber Kings, and replied with an equally stellar effort, chalking up 40 saves against a barrage of 43 shots.
Coach Gary Galley was cautiously optimistic about the victory. “We’re really excited that we got the first game in the series, stepping out on the right foot. We have to be smart enough to realize, though, that this is just the first game in a long series against a very good opponent, and we need to be better on Thursday in Pembroke. It was an exciting game.”
The game was dictated early by Pembroke, who capitalized on a slightly rusty Nepean team by injecting massive doses of physical play. The Kings, a team taller and heavier than Nepean, banged the Raiders around, led by captain Sean Crozier. However, the Raiders ascended to their physicality, led by Ahmed Mahfouz, who noted “You just have to play your game. Every time you have the chance to lay the body, lay the body, because you know they’re going to do the same to you.”
As has happened many times to Nepean throughout these playoffs, they gave up the first goal. Brad Barber gained the puck in his defensive zone, but his clearing pass was intercepted at the blue line by Zach Wilson. Wilson skated into the slot and wound a hard shot at MacDonald that was saved, but the rebound bounced to a wide open Pletsch who buried it into the wide open net, causing the sizable Pembroke contingent to cheer.
The Raiders continued pressing throughout the period, only to be thwarted by Levine in the Pembroke net. His most spectacular save came on a Nepean 5-on-3 power play, where he stabbed a Zachary Carriveau shot out of the air just before it crossed the goal line.
Later on the power play, however, Nepean finally broke through the Levine wall to tie the score. Holden took a pass from Cowie, corralled the puck in the slot, and fired a shot at the net. However, Levine failed to fully corral the puck, and Barron was sitting on the doorstep to jam the puck through Levine’s legs and into the net. As Barron reminisced, “I don’t know how Tavis managed to keep the puck on his stick, but he did. He took a good shot, the rebound came out, I got a piece of it, and I just put it away.”
Nepean carried their momentum from the quick goal into the second period, where they struck just over three minutes in. On the power play, Holden took a pass in the corner from Cowie, and carried the puck into the slot. His initial shot was saved by Levine, but he collected his own rebound and slid it past Levine’s outstretched pad. As Holden recalled, “Scott made a great play along the wall and taking two guys with him. I just got it, and I just went to the net and battered it in.”
Pembroke continued pressing, however, and likely would have taken the lead had it not been for two incredible defensive plays by the Raiders. The first came soon after the goal, when goalie MacDonald slid his stick across the side of the net to rob a wide open Pletsch, which caused the goalie to laugh “That was a lucky one. It took a weird bounce, and I just got my stick on it.” The second came minutes later, when Nepean killed off a two-man deficit thanks to huge blocked shots by Cowie and Mahfouz.
Before the period was over, however, Pembroke would strike again. With Corey Domenico sitting in the penalty box, Tyler Tosunian took a pass from Lucas Romero in the corner. Romero quickly fired a pass across the crease, which met up with a streaking Poirier in front of the net. Poirier quickly fired the shot over a sliding MacDonald to tie the game.
Despite this momentary boost, the second period ended on a sour note for the Lumber Kings. Young star Kyle Just took a hooking penalty, a miscue that ended up sealing the Lumber Kings’ fate early in the next period.
Inside the offensive zone, Carriveau and Holden were cycling the puck, trying to penetrate the rock-solid Pembroke penalty kill. Eventually, Carriveau caught Crozier out of position and fired the puck at the net, which dribbled through Levine’s legs. Cowie pounced on the puck sitting in the crease, jamming it into the back of the net and sparking a celebration among the Nepean contingent.
Nepean kept up the pressure for the rest of the game, yet that didn’t mitigate the efforts of Pembroke. The action was back and forth for the final 19:30, punctuated by an excellent glove save by Pembroke defender Scott Farrell and steady, calm play from MacDonald. In the waning seconds of the game, Pembroke’s frustrations boiled over, with several players being sent to the penalty box for inciting a melee.
The Raiders are prepared for the challenges that the rest of the series will pose. As Cowie said, “Pembroke’s a great team. We tied them for first place in the league, and they’re always a lot of fun to play against. I’m looking forward to Game Two, and it should be a great series.”
Mahfouz had a far simpler mantra, though. “Day by day. We’re just going to take it day by day.”
If anything is for sure, it is that this series will not be nearly as easy as the last two for Nepean.
by Ethan Calof |
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| 2009-04-04 |
| CJHL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE |
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1. PEM @ NEP SUN APR 05 @ 2:30
2. NEP @ PEM THU APR 09 @ 7:30
3. PEM @ NEP FRI APR 10 @ 7:30
4. NEP @ PEM SUN APR 12 @ 7:00
5. PEM @ NEP TUE APR 14 @ 7:30
6. NEP @ PEM THU APR 16 @ 7:30
7. PEM @ NEP FRI APR 17 @ 7:30 |
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| 2009-03-26 |
| Raiders take controlling lead in series with big win |
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For the past seven playoff games, and for the three regular-season games, the Nepean Raiders have taken the ice to play a rousing game of hockey. Ten straight times, the Raiders have emerged victorious. Sometimes battered, sometime bruised, but never losing.
At this point, it almost seems as if Nepean refuses to lose.
Just ask Tavis Holden. “I don’t expect this winning streak to end. Nope. We’re in this for the long haul.”
The latest win was over the Ottawa Jr. Senators, and was a 6-2 victory that stretched their series lead to a commanding 3-0. The margin of victory was easily the largest of the post-season for the Raiders, and it proved their dominance as an offensive as a defensive outfit.
Nepean got goals from David Gervais, Andrew Calof, Holden, Shaun Altshuller, Nikolaus Jost, and affiliated player Riley Kane. The latter three’s scores were their first career CJHL playoff goals. Ottawa got two goals from Nicholas Belleville, who hoisted the squad on his back in the second period and almost willed them into a tie game.
For the first time since recovering from a long-term injury, Wyatt Galley started in goal for the Nepean Raiders and recorded 36 saves on 38 shots. Ottawa started out with Niels-Erik Ravn in goal, but switched to Dean Shepherdson midway through the game in a bizarre twist. Each goalie faced 27 shots, with Ravn stopping 24 and Shepherdson 25.
Coach Garry Galley was thrilled with the victory. “We had a really good start to the game, and we were the aggressors early on, which is what we want to do. Ottawa came strong in the second half of the second period, but we did a hell of a job finishing it off in the third.”
Nepean set the tone for the game early when Ahmed Mahfouz rocked Ottawa defender Patrick Burns in front of the net. The massive collision was only a harbinger of the intensity Nepean brought, and a goal came soon after.
Four minutes into the game, Holden was controlling the puck in the corner for Nepean. He threw it to Joey Manley in the slot, who was tied up by Ottawa defender Mark Hough yet still managed to get a shot off at the net. Ravn made a pad save, but the rebound bounced to a wide open Gervais at the side of the net, who didn’t hesitate to put it in.
Nepean continued clicking, and kept pressing. They almost got their second marker when a Manley snipe passed through Ravn’s legs, but Aaron McLeod saved the day for Ottawa by stopping the puck from going over the goal line.
However, Nepean would not be denied for long, and the second goal came soon after. After Craig Cowie dumped the puck into the offensive zone, the puck was cleared to Jeremy Price at the point. He skated with it, hesitated a little, and fed a beautiful pass to a wide open Altshuller in the slot. Altshuller quickly fired a low wrist shot that slipped through a mess of bodies in front of the net and through Ravn’s legs. The rookie was thrilled with the goal, saying “I just got a great pass from Price in the slot, and I tried to get open. I put the puck on the net, and it just went in.”
The second period started off with a bang, as Nepean got another early goal off a lucky bounce to extend their lead. After Mahfouz kept the puck in the offensive zone by stopping it with his glove, Corey Domenico wound up with the puck and passed it to Calof in the corner. Calof tried to pass to Domenico, who was driving towards the net, but the centering pass bounced off of Ottawa defender Ryan Delorme’s skate and past a shocked Ravn. Calof was shocked at the goal, saying “I tried to pass it to Domenico, but it just went in.”
After the goal, Ravn was pulled for backup Shepherdson in an unexpected move, and went to chat to Senators head coach Mike Ruest. However, no fewer than eight seconds later after an Andrew Hampton penalty, Shepherdson was sent back to the bench himself for Ravn. After five minutes of play, Ravn was pulled for Shepherdson once again, finally concluding a bizarre game of ‘musical goaltenders’ that seemed to confuse more than help. Coach Galley, for one, was perplexed on the Nepean sideline, saying “I didn’t understand it, and I really had no idea what was going on. I didn’t think the goal [Ravn] let in was his fault, and he’s been great all series.”
Minutes later, Ottawa’s frustration seemed to mount, when McLeod surprised everyone in the arena by cross-checking Calof to the ice after the whistle. Mahfouz instantly tackled McLeod, and a scrum ensued.
Amazingly enough, the move seemed to spark Ottawa… or, more specifically, Belleville. After killing off McLeod’s penalty, Belleville carried the puck into the offensive zone, shot, and missed the net. The puck bounced to Mitch Bird at the side of the net, whose shot was saved by Galley, but the rebound flew back over to Belleville who put it over Galley’s outstretched left pad.
Belleville struck again before the period was done, though. Maxime Pilon gained the puck in the corner after a face-off, and decided to throw the puck to Belleville in front of the net. Belleville turned 180 degrees and chipped a speedy backhand over Galley’s glove. The shot was so hard to follow that several members of the crowd initially thought Galley had made the save, only to see the puck in the net.
Galley was disappointed that he let the puck in, but refused to dwell on it. “Honestly, I’d like both goals back, but who wouldn’t? There’s really not much I can do now, though.”
Despite the Ottawa surge, Nepean seemed to have the game in hand. Galley seemed sharp early, and Nepean got a quick goal only three minutes in.
With Jesse Barbier in the penalty box for Ottawa, Scott Cowie won the face-off back to Zachary Carriveau at the point, and Carriveau began skating around, looking for an opportunity. He skated around at the point, then caught a lucky break when Ottawa penalty killer Mitch Zion slipped and fell in a freak occurrence. Carriveau wound up a shot and fired at the net, and Holden was there to tip it past Shepherdson. Holden laughed after the goal, remembering “I just got my body in the right spot and it went in. I was celebrating pretty hard, but nobody was joining in.”
Ottawa never got another opportunity, and Nepean ended up adding two insurance goals to pull away. The first was an empty-netter by Jost, who slid it down the surface of the ice and into the net for his milestone goal. Jost was thrilled, saying “The goal was just lucky, but it was really nice to get the first one. My CJHL experience this year has been great.”
The last goal came on a well-executed rush. Max Barron carried the puck into the offensive zone, and passed it to a streaking Gervais. Gervais passed the puck back to Kane in the slot, who evaded an Ottawa defender and slid the puck past Shepherdson. Kane was beaming at the goal, saying “I’m enjoying every chance with the Raiders this year, and this goal feels really good. It gave me confidence, and hopefully I can stick with the team next year.”
Nepean attempts to close out the series on Saturday night, where they travel down the Queensway to Jim Durrell Arena. The team is hopeful to end this series by improving on their success. As Brad Barber said, “We need to play three solid periods. Throughout the playoffs, we haven’t really had many great start-to-finish games, but we can definitely get it done.”
If the past ten games are any indication, then they should do just fine.
by Ethan Calof |
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