by Romano Di Franco

The Nepean Raiders returned for game 2 of their mini homestand by welcoming the Kemptville 73s to the Steve Yzerman Arena. Nepean came into this game fresh off a 5-2 loss to the Navan Grads and the 73s were able to prevail in overtime against the Hawkesbury Hawks. For the starting goalies, John Gedriatis got the start in goal for the Raiders and Rylan Donovan got the call for the 73s.

A minute and six seconds into the first period, Kemptville got on the board first when Jay Zeus Mbarushimana scored his third goal of the season assisted from Morgan Henderson and Sydney Loretto. The lead was short lived when Deklyn Campbell scored his first goal of the season assisted from Noah Bath and Tristan Konobelj.

The 73s regained the lead on Case Hennessey’s third goal on the campaign assisted from Carter Graves and Zachary Vennace. The Raiders were able to tie the game at two a piece on the strength of Carter Williamson’s eighth goal of the season. Not only that, but this was his eighth in ten games. Kemptville added one more goal in the first period from Will Mullins third goal of the season.

The Raiders still went on to outshoot the 73s 17-15 overall in the first period.

Fifty three seconds into the second period, Kemptville extended the lead to 4-2 from Alexis Beaulieu’s sixth goal of the year assisted from Mullins and Vennace.

Nepean got a lucky bounce when Rylan Donovan thought he had the puck but somehow jammed into the net, but in the end, it was Ryan English that scored his first career CCHL goal.

A minute and fifty one seconds into the third period, the 73s regained their two goal lead on the strength of Jay Zeus Mbarushimana’s second goal of the game. The Raiders did not go down without a fight as Raphael Tellier’s second goal of the game made this contest a one goal game at 5-4.

The 73s iced the game on Matthew Montoni’s third goal of the season unassisted. Nepean made things interesting once more when Anthony Bertrand scored his second goal of the year to make it 6-5. The Raiders had a best case scenario chance when Tellier sniped a shot by Rylan Donovan just as the referee blew the whistle dead.

Kemptville held on to win the game by a final score of 6-5 despite Nepean’s best chance to force overtime.

The three star selections of the game were as follows: Jay Zeus Mbarushimana’s two goal performance rewarded him the first star of the game, with one goal and one assist in the game, Will Mullins was the second star of the game for the 73s and Ryan English’s first career CCHL goal rewarded him the third star of the game for the Nepean Raiders.

Nepean’s next two games will take place on the road starting with their next game on Friday night against the Smiths Falls Bears at the Smiths Falls Memorial Centre.

Be sure to subscribe to the Raiders official YouTube channel!