by Romano Di Franco
Evan Boucher reached an important milestone as he scored his 20th goal of the season in a 6-1 loss to the league-leading Carleton Place Canadians.
The Nepean Raiders were outshot by a 55-15 margin but kept it close through 20 minutes of play. Carleton Place opened the scoring at 12:56 of the first period as Elliot McDermott scored the first of his two on the afternoon. Boucher replied just twenty seconds later as the Raiders tied the game. Zachary Gravel and Matt McQuade got the helpers on Boucher’s milestone goal.
McQuade extended his point-streak to five games with his assist and that gives him seven points in that span with three goals and four assists.
The Canadians poured in on with five goals in the second period. Keenan Alnahas had to leave the game after getting cross-checked to the back of the neck as Carleton Place scored their sixth. William Nguyen came in after Alnahas went to the dressing room and shut the door on the Canadians turning aside all sixteen shots he faced including shutting out the top team in the third period.
Nepean took the first five penalties of the game and gave up one power play goal as Jake Code found the back of the net with Brandon Slawaska in the box for Holding. Carleton Place came into the game as the most penalized team in the league. They took the final three penalties of the game but killed off all three short-handed situations.
Alnahas made 33 saves on 39 shots for the Raiders before leaving the game after 35:54 minutes of action. Nguyen played the final 24:06 and was perfect. Nguyen’s only other appearance was a stellar 62-save performance in a 3-1 win over Cornwall Colts back on December 12.
William Nguyen was named the game’s third star for his perfection in relief while Canadians defenseman Elliott McDermott was named the game’s first star with his two-goal performance. Andrej Hromic was the second star as he got the assist on the game winner and the insurance goal.
The Raiders will take on the very same Colts one last time this season at the Nepean Sportsplex Yzerman Arena on Wednesday, February 26 for a 7:30pm puck drop.
