Konobelj and Kahriman Score In DIFD Game

 

by Romano Di Franco

The Raiders played out their second game in the span of five days against the Smiths Falls Bears which is also a special game for Nepean. They wore purple jerseys in honor of “Do it For Darion” Day in the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena. For the second straight game, the starting goalies were John Gedraitis in net for the Raiders coming off a stellar performance on Wednesday posting a season-high 43 saves while Ethan Morrow was between the pipes for the Bears.

Smiths Falls capitalized in this first period as Caden Heins, Gus Rabe and Kyle James scored. Nepean’s best chance in the opening frame came late when Luka Benoit had Ethan Morrow beat, but all he could find was iron. The Bears outshot the Raiders 16-7 in the first period.

Nepean did not go down without a fight as the Raiders answered back with goals from Tristan Konobelj and Mikayil Kahriman. It was the Kanata native’s third goal on home ice in three games. Konobelj’s goal came eleven seconds into the penalty to Tyson Parker. The Bears would score the next two goals from Kyle Dagg and Tyson Parker.

It was the Nepean Raiders that poured on the bulk of the pressure against the Bears outshooting them 16-14 in the middle frame.

John Gedraitis channeled Dominik Hasek often in the second including mid-way through the period making some big saves for the Raiders including when he sprawled out to put his hands on the puck.

The only goal from the third period came from Chris Cardillo with Gus Rabe drawing the only assist. The Bears would outshoot the Raiders 10-7 in the third period.

For the three star selection, with five hits and a couple of great scoring chances for the Nepean Raiders it was Jack Yates who got the game’s third star. Gus Rabe who had a goal and an assist was the second star for the Smiths Falls Bears and with one goal and two assists it was Kyle James who was the first star of the game.

The Raiders would fire thirty pucks at Ethan Morrow including many quality scoring chances.

Nepean’s next game is Tuesday, February 4 when they visit the Navan Grads for a makeup game that was to take place in November 1st. That will be a 7:30PM puck drop at the Navan Memorial Centre.

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