by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders returned home to continue their mastery of the Brockville Braves dating back to last season. Brockville came into this game as the number two ranked team in the CCHL standing. For the starting goalies, Otsirakatste Brant made his third career CCHL start while Ryan Gerlich got the start in goal for the Brockville Braves.
The Raiders scored the first two goals of the game when Peter Freel and Deklyn Campbell each scored for Nepean. The only penalty of the first period came when Tyron Fevry got the gate for slashing. By the end of the first period, the Nepean Raiders outshot the Brockville Braves 19-13.
The second period began when Nick Houben scored a highlight reel goal deeking around Ryan Gerlich and putting it in. The Braves appeared to be out of the game until Kellen Dostaler and Aidyn Urbach helped the Braves scored respectively. Luckily, the Raiders were able to get back by two when Thomas Dickey shot the puck that made Ryan Gerlich lose his balance. A minute after the goal was scored, Peter Legostev scored the narrow the gap to 4-3. Things would get wild in the latter half of the period. Kimani Eccleston knocked Otsirakatste Brant into the ice signaling at line brawl.
The Brockville Braves would outshoot the Raiders 17-11 in the second, but Nepean came into the second period intermission holding on to their 4-3 advantage.
The Nepean Raiders continued to poor the pressure on the Braves when they scored the next three goals from Tristan Konobelj, Nicolas Papineau and Dylan Pollock. It was Konobelj’s first career CCHL goal while the over ager Nicolas Papineau scored his seventh goal in the last five games.
Once more, Brockville did not go down without a fight as Peter Legostev and Kellen Dostaler each scored their second goal of the game, but it was too little too late for the Braves when Nick Houben scored on an empty net goal which was his second goal of the game.
Top Performers:
- 1st Star: Nick Houben (Nepean Raiders) – 2 goals, 1 assist
- 2nd Star: Peter Freel (Nepean Raiders) – 1 goal, 2 assists
- 3rd Star: Aidyn Urbach (Brockville Braves) – 1 goal, 1 assist
Despite a close contest in shots, the Raiders secured the win with consistent scoring throughout the game. Nepean’s offensive pressure, led by Nick Houben and Peter Freel, proved too much for the Braves. The story of the game was Nepean’s fantastic powerplay which went 3 for 8. They also killed off nine of the twelve penalties.
Nepean’s next game will be held on Wednesday October 16th when the reigning Bogart Cup Champion Navan Grads come to town.
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