by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders travelled to the Carleton Place Arena Rink 1 in an effort to put behind their 8-2 blowout loss to the Rockland Nationals. It was the first game of the season for the Raiders and the Carleton Place Canadiens. For the starting goalies, John Gedraitis who’s been on a roll lately for Nepean got the start whereas Ty Ferguson who made his sixth career CCHL start got the call tonight for the Canadiens.
The game remained a scoreless tie until Deklyn Campbell scored on the powerplay to help the Raiders get on the board first. It was his tenth goal of the season, but it was John Gedraitis who stole the show for Nepean as he stopped all seven shots including a huge glove save off of Sam Allaby.
By the end of the first period, the Raiders outshot the Canadiens 9-7.
The second period was physical as Max Shewfelt was ejected from the game for a check from behind against John Lumsden. Gedraitis continued to be a brick wall for the Raiders. The only blemish he allowed in the middle frame was a goal from William Bouwer assisted from Sam Allaby and Miller Kay. It wouldn’t take long for Nepean to regain the lead when Nicolas Papineau scored his ninth goal of the campaign assisted from Luka Benoit and Deklyn Campbell.
By the end of the second period the shots on net were 14-11 in favor of the Carleton Place Canadiens.
In the third period, the Raiders had their fair share of quality scoring chances. Deklyn Campbell appeared to have scored his second goal of the season, only for Ty Ferguson to sprawl back to make the save. Luka Benoit fired a rocket of a shot only for Ferguson to glove one down. Arguably, Nepean’s best chance to seal the deal was when Carter Williamson tried to sneak one past Ty Ferguson and he lurched back and made the save.
With Ferguson at the bench for an extra attacker, the Carleton Place Canadians tied the game at two when Jackson Froysland scored on the rebound to set the stages for Overtime.
Nepean’s best chance to take the extra point away from the Carleton Place Canadiens was Tyler Smith went in solo, but was hooked on the play. With neither side capitalizing, the game wento the shootout.
After five rounds in the shootout, Truan Conrad scored to seal the deal in the shootout.
Three Stars of the Game
- Ty Ferguson (Carleton Place Canadians) – 33 saves on 35 shots
- John Gedraitis (Nepean Raiders) – 29 saves on 31 shots
- Truan Conrad (Carleton Place Canadians) – Scored the game-winning shootout goal
This intense game saw physical play, with both teams accruing multiple penalties, but Carleton Place managed to pull off the win in the shootout.
The game will be remembered by the Raiders as they got to give John Gedraitis credit. Some of the saves he made were the best of the year.
Nepean’s next game will be held on Sunday, November 10th when the Ottawa Junior Senators visit the Raiders at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena for a 2:30PM puck drop.
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