by Romano Di Franco
Patrick Larkin got the Raiders out in front 1-0 scoring his 10th of the year. It marked the 14th time this season that the Nepean Raiders have scored the opening goal.
The Nepean Raiders held the lead until the 17:02 mark of the first when Zane Dalpe got the equalizer with former Raider Ryan Stansel assisting on the goal. The Grads pulled ahead a couple of minutes into the second and never looked back as they scored three more times to make it 5-1. Zachary Gravel cut the lead to 5-2 with his sixteenth goal of the season and is now just one goal behind Matt McQuade for second place in goals on the team. McQuade had his 5-game scoring streak snapped but only barely as he hit the post in the second period.
Nepean was outshot by a 37-26 margin but had a strong third period. It was pretty much all Nepean as they had the only goal of the period and had three PowerPlay chances. Beau Binnie, who will be attending Trine University in September, closed the scoring with his 13th of the season to put the game within striking range.
The Raiders held Jackson Arcan to just one goal. The point puts him in a tie for third in league scoring with Fletcher Anderson.
Nepean’s special teams had a good game going 1-for-4 on the PowerPlay. They killed off two of their three short-handed situations.
Tyler Laureault made 32 saves on 37 shots for the Raiders but he made some huge saves including stopping a breakaway by Jean-Sylvain Boyer.
Zachary Gravel was named the game’s third star for his one-goal performance while LW Jean-Sylvain Boyer earned the game’s second star with a goal and a helper. Navan Centerman Alec Lovisek had a goal and two assists and was named the game’s first star.
The Raiders next game is Sunday, March 1 as they host the Smiths Falls Bears at the Nepean Sportsplex Yzerman Arena for a 2:30pm puck drop.
