Raiders Welcome Back Home Win Over Carleton Place

by Romano Di Franco

NEPEAN, ON – The Nepean Raiders hosted the Carleton Place Canadians at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena Sunday afternoon in the front half of a home-and-home series. It was Nepean’s first home game of the young preseason.

The Raiders were coming off a convincing loss to the Rockland Nationals while the Canadians came in fresh off a 4-1 over the Kemptville 73s on Friday night.

Nepean continued getting looks at potential goalies for the regular season as Luca Sandu and Dom Amodeo split the duties between the pipes. Joe Chambers went the distance in the Carleton Place goal.

Affiliate Player Jack Matsukubo picked up where he left off from the 2021/2022 season where he posted 23 goals and 35 assists for 58 points. Matsukubo got the things started for Nepean with a pair of unassisted goals to put Nepean up 2-0 mid-way through the first period.

After 20 minutes the Raiders took their first lead of the season into the dressing room despite being outshot 18-12.

A couple of returning players were in on the goal that extended the Raiders’ lead to 3-0. Tyler Melvin’s shot from the left face-off dot bounced off Nolan Mozer’s left skate and past Chambers into the back of the net. AP Shane Moodie had the other helper on the goal.

Carleton Place responded a few minutes later with Will Soloway beating Sandu blocker-side after a nice a couple of nifty moves. They closed the gap to just one on a PowerPlay goal by Derek Hamilton who beat Dom Amodeo thrafter Matsukubo was sent to the box for Roughing.

The period ended with the Raiders clinging to a one goal lead as they led 3-2 despite being doubled in shots 13-6 in the period to give the visitors a 31-18 lead in shots.

The Raiders had just four shots in the third period but one of them was an outstanding scoring opportunity for Luke Posthumus that could have added to the Nepean lead if not for spectacular save by Joe Chambers. The Canadians had their share of chances in the period as well but Amodeo shut the door and the game ended with Raiders securing the 3-2 win despite Carleton Place adding the extra attacker in the final minutes.

The Raiders are back at it Tuesday night as they complete back-end of the home-and-home series travelling to the Carleton Place Arena for a 7:15pm puck drop against the Canadians.