by Romano Di Franco
NEPEAN, ON – The Nepean Raiders made the short road trip to the Rockland Arena to take on the Rockland Nationals to close out their January schedule. It was the fourth meeting between the two teams where Rockland took the first two games while Nepean came away with the win in their last meeting back on November 27.
Rockland comes into the game with a tenuous grip on the final playoff spot just one point ahead of the Cornwall Colts and the Kemptville 73s. The Nats lost their previous match 4-3 to the Renfrew Wolves while Nepean came into the game off a resounding 8-6 win over the Pembroke Lumber Kings.
Luca Sandu (5-12-1, 4.60 GAA, 0.890 SV%) got the start between the pipes for Rockland while Nepean re-called Hadyn Gould (11-12-2, 3.24 GAA, 0.902 SV%) defended the net for Rockland.
Nepean struck first when Joshua Reid scored against his old team beating Gould top-shelf blocker side. Luke Posthumus picked up the lone assist to extend his point-scoring streak to seven games. Nepean almost had another one but Nicholas Larkin rang one off the post to keep the score at 1-0 after one period of play despite being outshot 9-7.
Yanic Crête evened the score at 1-1 backhanding a rebound off the back boards into the short-side high over the glove of Sandu. It was the Rockland captain’s 12th goal of the season.
Joshua Reid put Nepean back in front with his second of the game this time as be buried the rebound off a howitzer of a shot by Owen Hardy from the right face-off dot. Hardy’s assist extended his point streak to seven games. Wade Bolton had the other helper on the goal.
After 40 minutes it was Nepean out in front by a 2-1 score after scoring on one of just two shots they managed in the middle frame. Rockland had 14 shots but Sandu turned aside 13 of them.
Nepean carried a PowerPlay over to start the third period after Lane Morency was booked for Hooking but they came away empty on the man-advantage. The Raiders had another chance on the PowerPlay after Guillaume Labre was called for Tripping. This time Nepean made it count with Luca Ricciardi getting credit for the 3-1 PowerPlay goal. Ricciardi deflected Curtis Sturgeon’s shot from the high slot past Gould with Luke Posthumus picking up his second assist game.
Posthumus got a goal of his own to make it 4-1 after deflecting a shot by Nicholas Larkin from the point. Josh Reid was not officially credited with an assist on the play but he made the pass to Larkin to get the insurance goal.
Bradley Leblanc got one back for Rockland but it was too little too late. They pulled Gould for the extra attacker but it was not be as Luca Sandu registered his sixth win of the season.
Joshua Reid (2G) was named the game’s first star, Luke Posthumus (1G | 2A) was the second star, while Bradley Leblanc (1G) picked up the game’s third star.
Nicholas Larkin (2A) is named the Hardest Working Raider.
Nepean is back at it on February 1 as they host the Carleton Place Canadians at the Nepean Sportsplex – Yzerman Arena for a 7:30pm puck drop.
Be sure to Subscribe, Like and Comment to the official Nepean Raiders YouTube channel and catch every goal.
