by Romano Di Franco
BROCKVILLE, ON – The Nepean Raiders were in action on Friday night in Brockville as they took on the Braves at the Brockville Municipal Centre.
The Braves came into the game off a 5-4 shoot-out loss to the Smiths Falls Bears while the Raiders lost 6-2 to Hawkesbury in their previous game.
Connor Shibley got the start in goal for Nepean while Minneapolis, MN native Kiron Morioka made his debut in net for Brockville.
The Braves opened the scoring just 17 seconds into the game on a goal by Marco Iozzo. Former Raider Evan Boucher picked up an assist on the goal. Shibley had no chance with heavy traffic in front of the net.
The Raiders then stormed back with a pair of PowerPlay goals to take the lead 2-1. Coleman Bennett got the first goal off a blast from the point. Nolan Mozer had the D-to-D pass to pick up the assist. The go-ahead goal came off great puck movement by the Raiders between Tyler Melvin, Jeff Taylor and Ryan Liverman who found Owen Hollingsworth at the top of the crease for a one-timer.
Patrick Lanthier tied it up for Brockville on a PowerPlay goal of their own with Zachary Lefebvre in the box for Tripping.
Despite the early game jitters, the Raiders settled down and took a 2-2 tie into the dressing room. The Braves had the edge in shots after 20 minutes by a 10-8 margin.
The lead changed hands for the third time in the game with Brockville retaking the lead 3-2 on a goal by Liam Goreski. Goreski would take a penalty just 10 seconds later and Zachary Lefebvre would tie it up with the Raiders’ third PowerPlay goal of the game. They would make Marco Iozzo pay for a Boarding penalty 38 seconds later with an incredible fourth PowerPlay goal of the game that chased Morioka from the game with Philip Rondina coming on in relief.
The Raiders extended their lead to 5-3 on an unassisted goal by Louis Chabot. It was his second of the season and the first Raiders goal of the night at even strength. The momentum would shift again as Braves erased the two-goal deficit on goals by Collen Elliott and Evan Boucher who notched his league-leading tenth of the season and third goal against Nepean this season.
A wild second would end with the teams deadlocked on the scoreboard at 5-5 and on the shot tally at 23-23.
The fourth lead-change of the game would see the Braves go up this time 6-5 on Owen Rainey’s third goal of the season. The teams traded chances in the third and the Raiders would pull Shibley for the extra attacker with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game. The Raiders pressed and had their chances but it would be Brockville sealing the deal with an empty netter by Lucas Culhane to make it a 7-5 final.
Shots on goal were 33-28 in favor of Brockville.
Brockville Brave Owen Rainey (1G) was named the game’s first star. The Raiders captured the next two spots with Nolan Mozer (2A) and Zachary Lefebvre (1G | 1A) named second and third stars respectively.
Anthony Rivard (1G | 1A) was named the hardest working Raider.
The Raiders next game is Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena as they take on the Cornwall Colts.
