by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders retuned home for their final pre-season game on a Sunday afternoon at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena against the Smiths Falls Bears. The Raiders would lose 2-0 but were looking for revenge.
Evan Grant was once again in goal while Beckett Campbell got the start for the Smiths Falls Bears.
Just like the previous game, Evan Grant was spectacular in goal for the Raiders. In fact, the only goal in that first period came on the breakaway rush from Jack Malandra which was his third goal on the pre-season.
Two minutes into the second period, Xavier Carroll and Shane Delamaire participated in a mad scramble in front of the Nepean net until Simon Bourque scored to tie the game at one. The Raiders responded tot hat by scoring two goals from Cole Rowat and Jackson Legault respectively to make the score a 3-1 affair.
In the third period, the Bears scored two goals of their own from Xavier Carroll and Adam Lyndon respectively. These goals helped the Bears tie the game at three.
Not only that, but they also forced the game in overtime.
After nothing could be settled in the overtime period the game goes into a shootout. Jack Malandra who scored the opening goal of the game tallied the only goal required in the shootout. Evan Grant stopped everybody in the shootout including Xavier Carroll, Jacob Smith and Marc-Antoine Riopel in that frame itself.
For the three star selections, for the shootout winning goal Jack Malandra was named the first star of the game for Nepean, the second star was given to Evan Grant for his 36 save performance and finally Beckett Campbell who made 30 saves in the game was given the third star for the Smiths Falls Bears.
Nepean’s first game of the regular season will take place on Wednesday September 16th when the Renfrew Wolves come to town.
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