by Romano Di Franco
The Nepean Raiders played out their penultimate home game of the season by welcoming to the Hawkesbury Hawks to the Nepean Sportsplex Steve Yzerman Arena. The Raiders came off a 4-1 loss to Pembroke Lumber Kings whereas the Hawks survived a 6-5 shootout marathon against the Rockland Nationals. For the starting goalies, John Gedratitis who made his first start in a week got the nod in goal for the Raiders. Brett Ruddy got the start in goal having gone seven for seven in the shootout in that aforementioned game.
It was an even steven game throughout the first period as John Gedraitis and Brett Rudy have been nice and steady for each end of the game. In the end of that first period, it was the Hawkesbury Hawks who scored the first two goals from Theodore Gette and Maxime Charbonneau.
Although the Hawks outshot the Raiders 11-9 in the first period, John Gedraitis stopped nine of the eleven shots in that period himself.
The second period was full of Grade A scoring chances and that included when Dylan Pollock who was one of three players honored before the game had Brett Ruddy beat, but all he can find was iron. Things got wild in the latter stages when Maxim Charbonneau and Owen Kinghan were involved in a fist fight with each other. The result which had them ejected from the game.
The only goal in the second period came from Mark Oliver Lauzon which came on the powerplay.
Even though the shots on net were 12-11 in favor of the Hawks, John Gedraitis only allowed one goal in the period.
The Nepean Raiders made things interesting when the former Hawkesbury Hawk in David Taylor scored to help the Nepean Raiders get on the scoresheet. Nick Houben and Dylan Pollock assisted on the goal.
Hawkesbury then closed out the scoring when Jacob Skoczylas tallied an empty netter to seal the deal for the Hawks.
For the three star selection, with three assists in the game it was Fernard Olivier Perron who was named the first star of the game. Having made 37 of the 38 saves in the game it was Brett Ruddy that was awarded the second star. Last but not least, it was David Taylor who scored the only goal of the game for the Raiders that was named the third star of the game.
Nepean closes out the home portion of the season on Wednesday, March 12th when they welcome the Kemptville 73s. The Raiders then closes out the season on St. Patrick’s Day when they visit the Brockville Braves. They will look to close out the season on a winning note.
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