by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders welcomed the Carleton Place Canadiens at the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena for the first game of their 2025 portion of the season. The Raiders come into this game having fell short of a comeback against the Brockville Braves. Meanwhile the Carleton Place Canadiens were just coming off their game against the Renfrew Wolves having shut them out 2-0. For the starting goalies, Otsirakatste Brant made his seventh consecutive start in goal having made 32 saves on 37 shots on goal against the Brockville Braves. Ian Vadenburg who took the loss in the shootout against the Navan Grads got the start in goal for the visiting Carleton Place Canadiens.
Despite the shots on net being even at seven a piece, it was Deklyn Campbell who opened the scoring for the Nepean Raiders. His goal came when he split the defense. That goal not only helped helped the Raiders get out front 1-0 but Mason St Onge drew the assist. It was his first point in a Raiders uniform.
The second period saw the Carleton Place Canadiens score two goals in that period alone from William Bouwer and Anthony Hatzitheodosiou. It was his first career CCHL goal and that certainly contributed to the Canadiens outshooting the Raiders 18-9 in that second period. Nepean had two good scoring chances. One was off of the Faceoff during which Cole Matthews saved a goal for the Canadiens. The second was when Luka Benoit had a breakaway chance but fired one wide of the net.
Nepean did get a goal back in the third period when Nick Houben fired a long shot that surprises Ian Vadenburg. That helped the Raiders tie the game at two. It was Nick Houben’s second straight goal dating back to the game against the Brockville Braves. Mason St Onge assisted on that goal as well.
The remainder of the third period was all Carleton Place as they scored goals from Ryan Small, Jackson Froysland and Miller Kay. The last two were on the powerplay. The Canadiens would go on to win the game by a final score of 5-2.
Three Stars of the Game
- Ryan Small (Carleton Place)
- 1 Goal, 2 Assists
- William Bouwer (Carleton Place)
- 1 Goal, 2 Assists
- Mason St Onge (Nepean)
- 2 Assists
Otsirakatste Brant was great in goal again for the Raiders despite taking the loss. He stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced. More importantly, Mason St Onge produced quite the debut game for himself as he assisted on two of the Raiders goal.
Nepean will look to get back on track when they visit the Smiths Falls Bears at the Smiths Falls Memorial Centre on Friday January 10th for a 7:30PM puck drop.
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