by Romano Di Franco
OTTAWA, ON – The Nepean Raiders took on their cross-town rivals the Ottawa Junior Senators at the Fred Barrett Arena on Saturday night. It was the fifth and final meeting between the two teams whith OJS having the upper hand winning three of the four previous meetings.
It was second of five meetings between the two teams with Ottawa coming away with a of 2-1 win in their prevous matchup back on October 30. OJS has been red-hot coming into the game on a 12-game winning streak including a 4-2 win over the Carleton Place Canadians three days earlier. Nepean is coming off a 3-2 loss to the Hawkesbury Hawks last Sunday.
Joshua Branton (2-4, 4.81 GAA, 0.891 SV%) was in goal for Nepean while Rorke Applebee (22-2-3-2, 2.14 GAA, 0.932 SV%) got the start between the pipes for Ottawa.
Brayden Potvin opened the scoring for Nepean after Luke Posthumus capitalized on a stumble by Applebee while handling the puck behind the Ottawa goal. Owen Hardy made it 2-0 one-timing a pass from Posthumus for his 13th of the season. Jackson Barnes picked up the other assist on the PowerPlay goal with Jack Moffat in the box for tripping. The Junior Senators managed to get one back before the end of the period after Mathis Bedard’s shot from the high slot somehow found its way through a ton of bodies in front of the net.
The first 20 minutes saw the Raiders take a 2-1 lead with both teams managing 16 shots apiece.
The second period was scoreless with Ottawa outshooting Nepean 14-8. Nepean did have a couple of chances with Jack Matsukubo being denied on a 3-on-1 and Curtiss Sturgeon would hit ithe post moments later.
Vincent Velocci tied the game at 2-2 burying his own rebound. The game remained tied until just over eight minutes left in the game until penalties became a factor. Wil Murphy sent a blast from the point over the glove of Branton to give OJS their first lead of the game. It came with Tristan Caldwell in the box for high sticking. Chase Lammi gave Ottawa a two-goal lead before Emile Villiard scored into the empty net. Xavier Guillemette scored with 12 seconds left in the game for good measure and Ottawa skated off with a 6-2 victory.
Wil Murphy (1G) was named the game’s first star. Anton Sorensen (2A) earned the second star and Joshua Branton (40 saves on 46 shots | 1 empty net) captured third star honours.
Luke Posthumus is named the Hardest Working Raider with a pair of assists.
Nepean has no rest as they host the Smiths Falls Bears at the Nepean Sportsplex – Steve Yzerman Arena for a Sunday matinee with a 2:30 pm puck drop.
Be sure to Subscribe, Like and Comment on the official Nepean Raiders YouTube channel and catch every goal.
