by Romano Di Franco
ROCKLAND, ON – The Nepean Raiders travelled to the Rockland CIHA – Arena 1 to take on the Rockland Nationals. It was the third meeting between the two teams with both games winning a game in their own barn.
The starting goalies were Connor Shibley (7-10, 4.90 GAA, 0.868 SV) for Nepean while Jack McGovern (10-14, 3.19 GAA, 0.894 SV%) was between the pipes for Rockland.
It was Rockland that drew first blood with a Hugo Marcil shot from the low slot beating Shibley to the left post. Gabriel Filion made it 2-0 Nats from almost the same spot on the ice blasting a one-timer from John Mulvihill.
The best chance in the first came from Jordan Graham with the Raiders on the PowerPlay after Patrick Larkin was booked for Holding. Graham had a couple of whacks at the puck at the edge of the crease after McGovern stopped Louis Chabot’s point shot.
After 20 minutes Rockland had a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard after vastly outshooting Nepean 19-4 in the period.
Rockland made it 3-0 after Shibley made a great stop on Yanic Crête but was left out of position with the puck stopped in right in front of the Raider net for an easy tap-in by Dean Taylor.
The period ended with the same 3-0 score with Rockland outshooting Nepean 11-8 in the second to extend their lead in shots to 30-12.
It was the Raiders who tallied first in the third period after Ryan Liverman won the draw in the Nats zone and passed the puck to Louis Chabot who sent the left-handed through the five-hole to beat McGovern. It was Chabot’s sixth of the season and Liverman’s 22nd helper.
Nick White restored Rockland’s three-goal cushion with a little dipsy-doodle move beating Shibley with a backhand to make the score 4-1 Nats.
The Raiders saw their two-game win streak come to an end but showed improvement almost doubling their shots in each period with 4 shots in the first, 8 in the second and 15 in the third period. The final shot count was 42-27 in favour of Rockland.
Nationals forward Gabriel Filion (1G | 1A) was named the game’s first star. Hugo Marcil (1G) was the second star while Nepean netminder Connor Shibley (38 SV on 42 shots) earned third star honours.
Louis Chabot (1G | 3 Hits) was named the hardest working Raider.
The Raiders are in action next on Sunday at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena for a matinee match-up against the Smiths Falls Bears for a 7:30pm puck drop.
