Braves top Raiders in offensive slugfest

One hundred-fifteen shots later, the Brockville Braves emerged victorious against the Nepean Raiders winning 5-3.

It was an offensive outburst on both sides of the ice, with both netminders  stopping over 50 shots. The Raiders’ Kyle Alaverdy finished with 52 saves in defeat while the Braves’ Justin Evenson was even better, turning aside 55.

“They’re a very good hockey team who’ve been in the top half all season. They’ve got some good offensive threats and their back end with (Andrew) Jarvis and (Jonathan) Hill, Simon Mack and their goaltender who’s one of the best in the league,” said Nepean head coach Darcy Findlay.

“But I’ve liked what I’ve seen from my guys over the past week on and off the ice. We’re coming together and that’s all you can ask for.”

Noah Rowe, Michael Thomas and Liam Stagg were the Nepean goalscorers.

Rowe also added an assist on Thomas’ goal to give him his sixth point in his last four games.

Mike McArthur added two for the Braves while Phil Gilmour potted an empty net to seal the deal.

“We still need to win a few more but we’ll see what we can do here. Our second half of the season schedule is in our favour in my opinion. We’ll take it one game at a time and build off it,” said Findlay.

The Raiders  next two games will back a back-to-back in Nepean against the Smiths Falls Bears.