by Romano Di Franco
CARLETON PLACE, ON – The Nepean Raiders were in Carleton Place to take on the Canadians. It was the fifth and last meeting between the two teams with the season series tied at two games apiece.
The Canadians entered the game 0-5 in their last five games where were shut out in back-to-back games against the Brockville Braves.
Nathan Loisel (4-8, 0.883 SV%, 4. 70 GAA got the start in the net for Nepean while Joe Chambers (12-18, 0.888 SV%, 3.47 GAA) got the start between the pipes for the home team.
The Canadians opened the scoring on Brandon Walker’s third of the year. It was a blast from the point that beat Loisel just inside the nearside post. The Raiders tied it at 1-1 when Jack Hillier tucked the puck past Chambers after a mad scramble in front of the Canadians goal. Hillier continues his torrid pace battling for top-spot in the rookie scoring race. Alex Bergeron and Jordan Graham had the helpers.
The period ended with the score tied at 1-1 and the Raiders outshooting the Canadians 11-8.
Jordan Graham put Nepean up 2-1 in the second period burying his own rebound after taking a pass from Alex Bergeron and blasting a shot from the slot.
The lead changed hands again as the Canadians got two before the second period came to a close. Marco Iozzo tied the game and Evan Jamieson put Carleton Place up ringing a shot off both posts.
After 40 minutes Carleton Place led 3-2 and badly outshot Nepean 21-5 in the frame to take a 29-16 lead in shots.
The Raiders tied the game on a bit of an odd goal. With a face-off in the Canadians zone Anthony Rivard took the draw and slapped the puck off the draw towards the Carleton Place goal and Zachary Lefebvre then buried the puck past Chambers.
The Canadians poured it on and put a barrage of shots on Loisel who made all the saves and got some help from Nolan Mozer who cleared the puck off the Nepean goal line to send the game to overtime.
Both teams had their chances in the OT period but it was Carleton Place that prevailed after Tyler Melvin was sent to the box for Tripping and Bill Gourgon got the PowerPlay game winner firing a shot over Loisel’s glove.
Evan Jamieson (1G | 1A) was named the game’s first star, Jordan Graham (1G | 1A) got the nod as second star. OT hero Bill Gourgon (1G) was named third star.
Zachary Lefebvre (1G) was named the hardest working Raider for registering his 20th of the season.
The Raiders are in action Friday night when the travel to the Brockville Memorial Centre to take on the Braves for a 7:30pm puck drop.
