Raiders battle against Jr. Senators, fall 5 – 3

They might have dropped the decision 5-3, but the Nepean Raiders emerged from a Wed. night game against the Ottawa Jr. Senators with a message: they could compete with the best of the league.

“I’m taking a lot of positives away from a 5-3 hockey game. If you want to beat the best teams in the league you’re going to have to show them what you’re made of,” said Raiders’ head coach Darcy Findlay.

The visiting Raiders were led by goals from Antoine Belisle, Ryan Horvath and Olivier Gauthier but could not overcome a strong Ottawa attack led by Pierre-Luc Veillette and Elie Boulerice.

“If we didn’t give up those two power play goals that we shouldn’t have given up, so if you take those away and look at the five-on-five game and look at our compete overall, I’m very happy with our team’s response tonight,” said Findlay.

Liam Soulière made his third-straight start between the pipes and looked good despite the loss, stopping 27 of 32 shots he faced.

Tensions boiled over in the third period with co-captain Kari Belec and Ottawa’s David Pearce dropping the gloves after a war of words.

The two combatants were sent packing along with Raider F Colin McCaughey (high-sticking) and Ottawa’s Adrien Bisson (third-man into the fight.)

Findlay was also shown the door by the refs, after he voiced his frustration with the aftermath of the fracas. Nepean ended up shorthanded when everything was sorted out.

“Number one on the career. I still don’t understand how there’s five guys involved, three of the opposite colour but only one of them gets ejected and we get two ejected,” Findlay said.

“It was a fast and rough game with some good compete on both sides. We know they play fast and aggressive and at the end of the day my style is to be tough to play against,” Findlay said.

The game saw a familiar face on the opposing side, with former Raider D Bailey Brant skating for Ottawa. Brant was dealt to the Jr. Sens for a PDF earlier this month.

McCaughey earned his first CCHL point on with an assist on Horvath’s goal.

Nepean is back in action on Sun. at home against Navan.