by Romano Di Franco
KEMPTVILLE, ON – The Nepean Raiders travelled down the 416 to play the Kemptville 73s in Friday night action. The Raiders are coming off a 6-4 loss to Carleton Place while the 73s enter the game fresh off a 3-2 victory over the Cornwall Colts.
This was the penultimate game in the season series with the final game taking place in five days in Nepean.
The starting goalies were Connor Blackwood (5-4, 2.77 GAA, 0.896 SV%) for Ottawa while Evan Martin (1-9, 5.04 GAA, 0.849 SV%) was in net for Hawkesbury.
Brock Krulicki struck first for Kemptville with a blast from the slot. Nepean forward Jordan Graham tied the game 1-1 with his first goal in the CCHL after stealing the puck in the 73s zone and sending a wrist-shot through the five-hole of Blackwood from the left faceoff dot.
Zachary Lefebvre gave the Raiders their first lead of the game less than a minute later from almost the exact same spot on the ice after taking a Tyler Melvin feed just outside the Kemptville zone and deposited his team-leading 17th of the season. Anthony Rivard had the other helper.
The game was a see-saw battle with Devon Savignac squaring the game at 2-apiece on a short-handed goal with Hunter Brazier in the box for Tripping. Brock Krulicki and Sevignac had a 2-on-1 with Martin making a terrific stop on the Krulicki’s blast before Sevignac buried the rebound.
After 20 minutes, the game was tied at 2-2 with Kemptville outshooting Nepean 11-9.
Grant Eastwood put the 73s out in front again with his seventh of the season. Adam Cater tied the game at 3-3 with a PowerPlay goal. Nepean had a 5-on-3 man advantage after Matthew O’Doherty (Check to the Head) and Nathan Merrett (Tripping) were off. Cater sailed a shot from the top of the right face-off circle over the right shoulder of Blackwood. It was Cater’s first point of the season with Anthony Rivard and Coleman Bennett getting the assists.
The 73s then scored three-straight on goals by Johhny Howie, Hunter Brazier, and Chase Lammi sending Kemptville up 6-3.
Tyler Melvin got one back with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot after an off-target blast from Coleman Bennett caromed off the backboard right to Melvin. Anthony Rivard provided the screen with Jack Hillier and Coleman Bennett picking up the official assists on the Raiders second PowerPlay goal of the game to make it 6-4. Hunter Brazier restored the three-goal cushion just 35 seconds later.
After two periods Kemptville led 7-4 and outshot Nepean 16-8 in the second to take an overall 27-17 edge in shots.
The third period saw just one goal as Johnny Howie registered his 8th of the season and second of the game.
The game ended with 73s on the good side of an 8-4 final
Kemptville forwards Hunter Brazier (2G | 2A) was named the game’s first star and Chase Lammi (1G | 3A) the second star while Raider forward Tyler Melvin (1G | 1A) earned third star honours.
Adam Cater (1G) was named the hardest working Raider for scoring his first goal of the season.
The Raiders are back at it Sunday night as they travel to the Pembroke Memorial Centre to take on the Lumber Kings for a 7:30pm puck drop.
