by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders travelled back home to the Sportsplex to play out the first game of their home and home set against the Hawkesbury Hawks. Nepean came into this game hoping to leap frog Hawkesbury for the eighth and final playoff spot of the CCHL standings.
For the starting goalies, Otsirakatste Brant who was great once again against the Kemptville 73s on Friday got the start for the Raiders and Luka Gelinas who also played well in his last appearance against the Pembroke Lumber Kings was in net for the Hawks.
Please note that the game took place on Wednesday as their contest was postponed on Sunday
Thirty nine seconds into the match, Luka Benoit continued his scoring prowess as he scored his fifteenth goal of the campaign assisted from Ryan Kinghan and Nicholas Larkin. Hawkesbury answered back on a goal from former Rockland National Matthew Itzkovitz assisted from Edward Downey and Vital Dinis on the powerplay.
The Raiders responded on their own powerplay goal from Tristan Konobelj which was his third of the season. Spencer Thompson and Raphael Tellier assisted on the marker.
Not only did Nepean had a lead to enjoy of 2-1 but they also outshot the Hawks 18-12.
The second period was all Nepean Raiders as they scored both the goals from Tyler Smith as they increased their lead to 4-1.
Instead of folding, the Hawkesbury Hawks made things interesting when Matthew Itzkovitz and the former Brockville Brave Vital Dinis scored respectively to help cut Nepean’s lead to one.
Tyler Smith’s ninth goal of the campaign completed the hat-trick, but Hawkesbury wasn’t done yet as Edward Downey scored on a deflection goal to draw back within one.
Notably, all of the Hawks goals came on the powerplay, but it wasn’t enough as the Nepean Raiders held on to win their third in the last four games.
For the three star selctions, having completed the hat-trick Tyler Smith was rewarded the first star of the game for the Raiders, for his two goal performance, Matthew Itzkovitz was named the second star for the Hawks and with three assists, Raphael Tellier was given the third star of the game for Nepean.
The Raiders hope to win their season series against the Hawkesbury Hawks on Friday November 21st at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex.
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