by Romano Di Franco
NEPEAN, ON – The Nepean Raiders hosted the Carleton Place Canadians at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena Wednesday evening. It was the fourth meeting of the season for the two teams. The last meeting was a 6-3 victory powered by a pair of goals by Zachary Lefebvre.
The Raiders are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Junior Senators in a closely fought battle that Ottawa iced with an empty-net goal. The Canadians limp into the game 0-5 in their last five coming off a 3-0 shutout loss to the Rockland Nationals.
The starting goalies were Jackson Pundyk (0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%) for Carleton Place while Nathan Loisel (2-5, 4.83 GAA, 0.880 SV%) was in goal for Nepean.
Jonathan Swyer struck first for Carleton Place with his first CCHL goal. It came on the PowerPlay with Zachary Lefebvre in the box for Interference. Loisel got more than a piece of it but it somehow managed to find the back of the net.
Marc-Antoine Ducharme made it 2-0 for Carleton Place with his first CCHL as well. The goal came on a breakaway and Loisel was beaten high blocker side.
The period ended with the teams tied in shots at 7-7.
Carleton Place had an early chance before Todd Northgrave scooped the puck off his own goal line to prevent a goal. The game got physical after a hit by Ben Hamilton checked Coleman Bennett into the boards. Adam Cater and Ben Hamilton were assessed 5-minute Fighting majors. The Canadians went up 3-0 at the midway point of the second on Isaac Pascoal’s fifth of the season.
Tyler Melvin got that goal back a few minutes later with a blast from the left faceoff circle beating Pundyk through the five-hole to make the game 3-1. Jack Hillier and Coleman Bennet had the helpers.
After 40 minutes, Carleton Place had the edge on the scoreboard despite being outshot. Nepean had the second period edge at 11-8 to take the overall shot lead a8-15.
Jackson Hay made it 4-1 for the Canadians with a wrist shot from the high slot beating Loisel high glove-side. Gino Colangelo extended the lead to 5-1tipping a Jackson Hay shot from the point through the pads of Loisel. The PowerPlay goal came with just two seconds left in the Tyler Melvin Cross Checking penalty.
The scrappy Raiders showed some fight when Chase Campeau was johnny-on-the-spot to deposit a rebound off a Nicholas Larkin shot from the point. Ryan Liverman made it 5-3 just 90 seconds later after a mad scramble in front of the Canadians goal. Pundyk made the first four saves but couldn’t make the fifth as Owen Hollingsworth and Samuel Beaulne registered assists.
The Raiders pulled Loisel for the extra attacker with two minutes left to go and it paid off when Zachary Lefebvre pulled the Raiders to within 1 with 1:04 left on the clock.
Nepean pulled Loisel one more time to try and get the equalizer but this time it was Carleton Place that scored when Derek Hamilton’s empty-netter iced the game for the 6-4 Canadians win.
Canadians D-man Jackson Hay (1G | 3A) was named the game’s first star. CPC netminder Jackson Pundyk (29 SV on 33 shots) earned second star honours while Raiders captain Coleman Bennett (1A) was the third star.
Tyler Melvin (1G) was named the hardest working Raider. Honourable mention to Zachary Lefebvre (1G) who extended his point streak to six games.
The Raiders are back at it Friday night as travel to Kemptville to take on the 73s at the North Grenville Municipal Centre for a 7:30pm puck drop.
