by Romano Di Franco
NEPEAN, ON – The Nepean Raiders hosted the Renfrew Wolves at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena. It was the fifth and final meeting of the season between the two teams with the Wolves having been victorious in the four previous games.
Will Craig (21-11, 0.924 SV%, 2.51 GAA) got the start in the net for Renfrew while Nathan Loisel (4-7, 0.886 SV%, 4. 05 GAA) got the start between the pipes for Nepean.
Renfrew has opened the scoring in the four previous meetings but this time it was Nepean that drew first blood. Tyler Melvin took the puck behind the Wolves goal before finding Zachary Lefebvre in the slot. Lefebvre took the pass off his back skate, kicked it to his forehand and put it into the wide-open net. Raiders netminder Nathan Loisel had the other assist on the goal for his first point of the season.
The period ended with the Raiders ahead 1-0 after outshooting Renfrew 14-11.
The Wolves scored a pair of goals in the second minute of action in the second period to go up 2-1 on goals by Brendan Hill and Mathieu Parent.
After this, Nathan Loisel turned away a package of saves including a miraculous toe save he made off of Parent. The highlight reel saves for Loisel continued in the third period when he stacked and beat Noah Vom Scheidt with his pads.
The Raider tied the game at 2-2 on a 3-on-1 with some nifty puck movement by Alex Bergeron, Owen Hollingsworth, and Ryan Liverman. It was Bergeron getting his third of the season directing the Hollingsworth pass past Craig.
After 40 minutes the two teams headed to the dressing room with the score squared at 2-2. Shots were 16-14 for Renfrew in the period making it 28-27 in favor of the Raiders.
The third period was all Renfrew as they found the back of the net four times to make it a 6-2 final. Mathieu Parent had his second of the game, Tyson Phare got his ninth of the season before Charlie Johnson scored a pair of goal to give him 24 on the season.
Mathieu Parent (2G | 3A) was named the game’s first star, Charlie Johnson (2G | 1A) got the nod as second star. Raiders forward Alex Bergeron (1G) was named third star.
Nathan Loisel ( 38 saves on 44 shots | 1A) was named the hardest working Raider.
The Raiders continue their busy March schedule Tuesday evening at the Carleton Place Arena as they meet the Carleton Place for a 7:30pm puck drop.
