by Romano Di Franco
PEMBROKE, ON – The Nepean Raiders made the 143 km trek down Highway 17 to Pembroke to take on the Lumber Kings. It is the last meeting between the two teams with Pembroke having come away victorious in all four games. The previous matchup was tightly contested with the Lumber Kings scoring with 76 seconds left in the game to come away with a 3-2 win.
The starting goalies were Nathan Loisel (2-6, 4.86 GAA, 0.875 SV%) for Nepean while Nicholas Heinzle (0-1, 4.00 GAA, 0.905 SV%) was in net for Pembroke.
It was the Raiders who struck first with Ryan Liverman notching his seventh of the season after pouncing on a rebound off the point-shot from Adam Cater. It was Cater’s second point in two games. Owen Hollingsworth got the other helper.
Zachary Lefebvre gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead and extended his point-streak to 8 games after picking the pocket of Lumber Kings defenceman Nick Johnson. He took the puck down the left side and snapped a five-hole shot through Heinzle to record his 18th goal of the season matching the 18 assists he has on the season. Owen Hollingsworth grabbed the only assist on the goal for poking the puck in Lefebvre’s direction in the neutral zone.
Jesse Kirkby answered back for the Lumber Kings with nine seconds left in the period to close the gap to 2-1.
After 20 minutes, the Lumber Kings had outshot the Raiders 17-8 but Nepean led on the scoreboard where it counted most.
The Lumber Kings almost tied the game in the opening minute of the second after Jacob Zwirecki had his shot scooped off the goal line by a Raider. It was not clear if it was Hollingsworth or Coleman Bennett who made the heroic play.
It was Ryan Liverman with his second of the game that restored Nepean’s two-goal cushion. The puck took a funny bounce and Zachary Lefebvre found himself all alone in the slot. His wrist shot was saved by the left pad of Heinzle but the rebound went to Liverman who swiped at the puck and even though the attempt didn’t exactly find the back it did slowly trickle across the goal line (barely) and that was good enough to give the Raiders the 3-1 lead. Zachary Lefebvre and Jack Hillier had the assists.
Nathan Loisel was tossed from the game for retaliating against Carter Vollett who was given two minutes for Goalie Interference. Loisel’s major was for Attempt to Injure. He was replaced by Connor Shibley after turning aside 18 of the 19 shots he faced.
Harris Hilfiker gave Nepean their first three-goal lead since October 11 3-0 shutout win over Carleton Place Canadians. The goal came after a 2-on-1 break with Owen Hollingsworth that was saved by Heinzle who was caught out of position after making the first save. Hilfiker took the puck from behind the net and back-handed it under a flopping Pembroke netminder. The Raiders went up 4-1.
Gavin Ewles brought the Lumber Kings within two with a PowerPlay goal with Todd Northgrave in the box for Cross Checking.
After two periods Nepean led 4-2. They outshot Pembroke in the second 14-11 but still trailed 28-22 in the game thus far.
The third period saw the Pembroke Lumber Kings change their goalie as well. Reese Proulx came in to relieve Nicholas Heinzle as Pembroke went from broke to try and steal the win from Nepean.
Jordan Graham made the task extra difficult lifting a Tyler Melvin rebound over Proulx from the edge of the paint. Graham’s second of the season put the Raiders up 5-2.
The Raiders went on the PowerPlay when Sawyer Prokopetz was sent off for Slashing. Jack Hillier sent a puck towards the Lumber King net but it hit the leg of Jacob Zwirecki and it led to a 3-on-2 situation for Pembroke that Raphael Seguin cashed in on to make it 5-3 game.
The Lumber Kings pulled Proulx for the extra attacker but it was Jordan Graham with the empty-netter that put the icing on the cake for Nepean. Jack Hillier got the loan assist to make it a 6-3 final in favor of the Raiders.
Nepean forward Ryan Liverman (2G | 1A) was named the game’s first star and Jordan Graham (2G) the second star while Pembroke Lumber King forward Jesse Kirkby (1G | 2A) earned third star honours.
Nathan Loisel was named the hardest working Raider for stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced although he didn’t finish the game.
The Raiders are back at it Wednesday night as they are back at home to host the Kemptville 73s at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena for a 7:30pm puck drop.
