Nepean Earns Point in Hard Fought Battle

by Romano Di Franco

NEPEAN, ON – The Nepean Raiders looked to make it three straight wins as they hosted the Cornwall Colts at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena on Sunday afternoon.

It is the third matchup between the two teams this season and both previous games resulted in Shootout wins for Cornwall.

Cameron Hollands (3-1, 2.01 GAA, 0.927 SV%) got the nod in goal for Cornwall while Luca Sandu (4-8, 4.21 GAA, 0.879 SV %) got the start between the pipes for Nepean.

Cornwall struck first on a goal by Brayden Bowen who tucked in a rebound on a point-shot by Nolan Gagnon.

That was all the scoring that the first period would see and the Colts took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after outshooting the Raiders 14-7.

The Raiders thought they had tied the game after Owen Hardy slid the puck behind Hollands and through the crease. The Dupont-Posthumus-Hardy line would manage to score on the same shift moments later when Dupont one-timed a pass from Posthumus from point-blank range. Hardy had the other helper on the equalizer.

After 40 minutes the two teams were deadlocked at 1-1 with Cornwall having the edge in shots at 29-16 after outshooting Nepean 15-9 in the middle frame.

Anthony Rivard gave Nepean their first lead of the game with his third of the season. The goal came off a behind-the-net pass from Josh Reid. Rivard had to double-clutch but made no mistake blasting the shot from the slot past Hollands.

Kobe Tallman tied the game at two a-piece with just under five minutes to play in the third beating Sandu high glove-side.

For the second straight game, the Raiders went to overtime but this time the OT hero would be Nolan Gagnon giving the Colts their third victory in extra time this season against Nepean.

Shots on goal were 34-22 in favor of Brockville but it was Nepean fleeing town with the “W”.

Nolan Gagnon (1G | 2A) was named the game’s first star. Luca Sandu (43 saves on 46 shots) notched second star honours while Kobe Tallman (1G) got the nod as the game’s third star.

Anthony Rivard was named the Hardest Working Raider.

Nepean is in action during the Winter Showcase on Tuesday taking on the Brockville Braves at the North Grenville Municipal Centre Pad 2. Puck drop will be at 6:00pm.

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