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by Romano Di Franco
CARLETON PLACE, ON – The Nepean Raiders closed out the back half of a home-and-home series with the Carleton Place Canadians at the Carelton Place Arena. It was Nepean’s third preseason game this year.
The Raiders were coming off a close 3-2 victory at home over the Canadians. Nepean was once again on the right side of the score taking the game by a final of 4-2.
Nepean split the duties between the pipes with Dom Amodeo playing the first half and Luca Sandu playing the second half. Jackson Pundyk played the whole game for Carleton Place.
Carleton Place opened the scoring with the first period’s only goal with Hunter Neil recording his first goal of the pre-season. Owen Smetham and Liam Calvert got the assists.
The shots on goal in the first period would be 8-6 in favor of the Canadians, but for the most part Dom Amodeo kept them at bay. Both teams stayed clear of the box.
Nepean got the equalizer midway through the second after Coleman Bennett, entering his last year of Junior A competition, scored his first goal of the pre-season. Luca Ricciardi notched his first point in a Raider uniform.
The teams traded Roughing Penalties in the second with Bennett and Thomas Dickey getting booked 42 seconds apart.
Hunter Neil restored the Canadians lead after tallying his second goal of the game. Owen Smetham got his second assist of the night and Carter Pilon his first of the game and second of the pre-season.
After 40 minutes CPC took their 2-1 lead to the dressing room and also had a slim edge in shots at 19-16.
The 2-1 lead would stand for the home team until Luke Posthumus, who was part of the Raiders U18 championship team from last season, scored his first goal of the exhibition series unassisted. Three minutes later, Luka Benoit would score the game-winning goal assisted from Brandon Reinsich and Tristian Caldwell.
Nepean would put the icing on the cake when returning-player Tyler Melvin scored a short-handed, empty net goal with Luca Ricciardi in the box. Anthony Rivard had the lone helper.
The Raiders conclude their pre-season schedule with a home-and-home series against the Navan Grads with the first game set for Friday, September 16 at the Navan Memorial Centre for a 7:30pm puck drop.
