Posts Tagged ‘hockey’
Bears start the weekend off with a win over Kemptville
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
After a disappointing effort on Nov. 10 in a 6-2 loss to Kanata, the Bears bounced back 24 hours with a strong effort in defeating the Kemptville 73s 6-4 at the Bears Den.
Newly acquired Mathieu Franche netted his first goal as a Bear and second on the season to put the Bears up 1-0 at 14:45 of the opening period. Franche’s power play marker was assisted by the Bears leading scorer Cole Busschaert. The Bears struck again just 51 seconds later when Alex Kealey deflected Scott Gervais’s point shot by Peter Brooks. The goal was Kealey’s sixth of the season.
Bobby Dow cut into the Bears lead when he beat Brad Dobson from the slot at 18:13. Smiths Falls out shot Kemptville 13-11 while the 73s took three of the five penalties handed out.
Kemptville tied the game at 2-2 when their leading scorer Matt Tugnutt dented the twine just 17 seconds into the middle stanza. The Bears regained their lead when Ashton’s Brett Garvey wrist shot beat Brooks from the point. Garvey’s sixth marker of the year was set up by rookie’s Alex DiCarlo and Marc Shannon.
Kemptville replaced Brooks with former Bear Nick Hodgins after the Garvey marker. Smiths Falls held a 13-11 shot advantage while taking four of the five penalties including a scrap between Nic Coates and Jack R. York at the 19:01 mark.
The fans could have been expecting a tight defensive third period as the Bears would try to protect their 3-2 advantage. Instead the teams combined for five goals in a wild final 20 minutes of play. Michael McKenney opened the third period scoring with his 7th goal at 5:33 with Hunter Garlasco and Garvey drawing the helpers.
Kemptville made it 4-3 when Neal Samanski’s shot alluded Dobson at 8:39. Busschaert’s fifteenth goal of the campaign regained the Bears two goal advantage after he was set up by Garlasco & Tre Folkes. The fans moved to the edge of their seats as Kemptville scored at 14:15 on the powerplay to make the score 5-4. It was not until Garlasco raced down the ice, corralled a loose puck and scored his sixth of the season into a Kemptville empty net to secure a 6-4 win. Busschaert and Jared Henry were credited with the assists.
Smiths Falls out shot Kemptville 16-4 in the 3rd period and each team took a single minor penalty.
The Bears return to action on Friday, Nov. 18 as the Cornwall Colts come to the Bears Den.
Trio of Canadians pick up firsts with the tea
Courtesy of the Carleton Place Canadians and Daniel Vazzoler
Justin Cmunt, Sage Englund and Peyton Francis all picked up important firsts with the Carleton Place Canadians in Tuesday’s 9-3 win over the Gloucester Rangers at the Carleton Place Arena.
Englund and Francis both picked up their first goals playing for Carleton Place, while Cmunt picked up his first point playing in his first game. Englund had picked up one assist in his first four games with Carleton Place, and he had a goal and an assist against Gloucester.
“It feels good to get the monkey off my back finally and hopefully now I can just continue (to score) and keep it going,” said Englund.
After Matt Lombardozzi gave the Canadians the lead midway through the first period with a long wrist shot that beat Michael Cullen, Englund doubled the Canadians lead 3:34 later.
“It was a three on two, the puck went over to [Samuel] Knoblauch and he just dropped it back to me. I was the high guy and just kind of shot the puck and it just went top glove. It felt pretty good,” he said.
Francis added to the lead late in the first period, finishing off some hard work from Troy MacTavish. MacTavish fought off the Rangers defender at the side of the net and slid the puck across to Francis, giving him an almost open net to tap in the puck for his first goal.
“It’s good for Franny to get in the lineup and get his first one under his belt,” MacTavish said. “He’s been working hard in practice for us all week and it was a good team effort tonight, everyone was working hard.”
MacTavish had a strong effort on Tuesday, creating chances around the Rangers net by skating the puck hard to the net and jamming the puck around Cullen’s pads. With the assist, he ended a five-game streak without picking up a point.
“If you work hard, the bounces are going to come,” he said. “Sometimes you’re going to go through slumps where you don’t get the bounces and they don’t go in for you and I feel like, now, I’m starting to turn the curve and they’re starting to go in for me.”
After a strong opening period, the Canadians stumbled at the start of the second period. Gloucester scored a pair of goals in the first 4:06 of the middle period to tense up the atmosphere in the arena.
The crowd got even more concerned when Drew Shields danced between a pair of Canadians defenders and slipped the puck past Connor Hughes to level the score.
“I think we just got complacent,” said Canadians head coach Jason Clarke. “We were dominant in the first period and then we got complacent. We jumped back on the horse in the third and played hard. And once we start playing hard, with the way we’ve been playing over the last little bit, we’re going to dominate games and that’s what we did.”
The Carleton Place domination to end the game started with Andrew Dodson snapping a loose puck in the slot just inside the post, barely bulging the twine over Cullen’s blocker with a power play goal with less than three minutes to go in the second period.
The Canadians headed into the third period with a 4-3 lead and had four different goal scorers. They continued they’re attack with five more goals from five different players in the final period – including three goals in the first 5:25 to chase Cullen out of the net as Dario Latessa replaced Cullen in the Rangers net.
Logan Buchanan was one of the five goal scorers in the third period for his first goal of the season after 18 games. After coming up clutch in the playoffs last season for the Canadians, with a pair of goals in the Bogart Cup Finals and getting a goal at the Fred Page Cup, Buchanan said he didn’t expect his first goal to come this late into the season.
“Playoff hockey’s a different mentality,” he said. “Teams play a lot harder so you figure, once you get into league you’ll be playing against teams that are good but you’re not playing against teams that are performing at that are playing at that playoff performance yet.
“Once they get to the playoff performance, it’s ridiculous how hard it is to score. I got lucky last year playing with (Maxime) St. Pierre and (Will) LeNeave, they were feeding me pucks just like (Shawn) Kennedy and Englund are this year,” Buchanan continued. “I’m just getting pucks and putting them towards the net, hopefully I get rewarded as soon as possible.”
Making his debut with the team, Cmunt notched an assist as he said he tried to make an impact in his first game.
“I wanted to come in and assert myself and make some plays and it worked out,” he said. “I’ll thank Sam (Knoblauch) for the goal there, and I’m happy to get on the score sheet.”
For the players who picked up their first points or goals, they said that it helps them fit in to the locker room with their new team.
“We’re all here for a reason, they believe in us and I think guys expect it but it looks good when we do come through on the score sheet,” Cmunt said.
“We’re a pretty tight group here, and these new guys coming in, they seem like really nice guys,” MacTavish added. “We’re pretty close with them already and it’s nice to see everyone chip in. The guys that haven’t been here too long, that don’t know the systems that well, to see them chip in is really good.”
Buchanan echoed MacTavish’s sentiments, saying points from the new players can help them settle into the room and “when they get their first, obviously, the reactions are priceless and it’s just awesome to see.”
Carleton Place continues their home stand on Friday, Nov. 11 when the Cornwall Colts visit the Carleton Place Arena before the Brockville Braves come to town on Sunday, Nov. 13
Penalties almost cost Canadians victory over Ottawa
Courtesy of Daniel Vazzoler and Carleton Place Canadians
The Carleton Place Canadians had a 3-2 lead late in Friday night’s game (Nov.4) against the Ottawa Jr. Senators when a pair of penalties – one undisciplined, the other not so much – created the opportunity for Ottawa to tie the score with 1:07 remaining in regulation.
“We got ourselves into trouble too, like the first penalty we took (late in the third), you know, Connor Merkley’s not taking a very good penalty – a very selfish penalty and then it kind of went from there,” said Canadians coach Jason Clarke.
“The penalties that were called in the third period were atrocious,” he continued. “There’s nothing you can do about that; all you can do is control what you can control. I thought our penalty killing was good – both goals they scored were 6-on-4, they pulled the goaltender on both goals and got some good bounces.”
After offensive struggles in the first two periods, the game was a 1-1 tie heading into the third period thanks to goals from Alex Friesen and Zachary Cross for Carleton Place and Ottawa respectively.
Connor Hughes made 22 saves in the first two periods, and ended up making 40 saves in the game; while Ian Andriano got the role of starting goalie for Ottawa, making 24 saves on the night.
In the third period, the Canadians struck quickly with a pair of goals 1:05 apart.
Connor Hill gave Carleton Place the 2-1 lead with a power play goal 8:22 into the period with a one-timer that he fanned on, fooling Andriano as he slid past the shot that ended up catching a piece of the post on its way into the net.
Owen Grant doubled the lead to two goals with a shot from almost along the goal-line that banked in off of Andriano and into the net.
Momentum changed in favour of Ottawa after a big hit from Logan Buchanan on Cam White led to a boarding penalty to the young Canadians forward, and a fight between the two players.
Although Buchanan won the fight and got the Canadians bench and the crowd of 407 people at Carleton Place Arena to their feet, the Jr. Senators took advantage of the power play with a goal from Jaren Burke while Andriano was on the bench for the extra attacker.
Then the penalty troubles began for Carleton Place.
Merkley took a slashing penalty by going in hard on the forecheck and the referee saw him being too aggressive with his stick.
While short handed, Geoff Kitt went to chase down a loose puck in the Ottawa zone – again with Andriano on the bench and an empty net for Ottawa – but got tangled up with Thomas Stevenson. The two battled for the loose puck and as Stevenson got bumped down, he latched on to Kitt and brought him down to the ice but Kitt was the one who got the interference penalty.
Ottawa couldn’t take advantage of the 6-on-3 advantage with the empty net but with Kitt still in the box, Nicolas Samson scored a power play goal to tie the game.
“We weren’t too down (after giving up the goals) because we knew [the penalties] were bad calls,” Carleton Place captain Andrew Dodson said. “We just couldn’t get the right bounces but we battled through that and stayed positive. We knew we were going to pull out the two points and keep working hard, and we were lucky to do that.”
Neither team could score an over-time goal forcing the game into a shoot-out.
Cross was the first shooter for Ottawa and he slid the puck through the legs of Hughes cutting from Hughes’ blocker side across the crease to open up the goalie’s five-hole.
Ottawa couldn’t add another goal in the shoot-out and Carleton Place was down to Merkley who had to score to continue the shoot-out. He made the same move as Cross and had the same result as he continued the game.
After Hughes stopped Jackson Alexeev, Dodson had a chance to win the game for the Canadians and he made no mistake. He faked a wrist shot before deking to the backhand and sliding the puck through the opened up five-hole of Andriano.
“I was kind of nervous,” Dodson said about his attempt, “but I knew it was deep into the shoot-out and Hughes played great for us in the shoot-out and stoned those guys. I knew I had to bear down and went to my go-to move and was lucky it paid off.”
The first four Ottawa shooters all tried similar moves against Hughes by going down on his blocker side before cutting across towards his trapper.
“I don’t know, I thought about that too,” Hughes said. “I think they were trying to fake me out on the shot and then cut across. But after the first one, I kind of realized that they were going to try that move.”
All three goals in the shoot-out were scored with the same move – a fake shot before going to the backhand to open up the goalie’s five-hole for the goal.
“It’s really difficult (to stop) because the fake makes a goalie open up and when you open up it’s hard to get back closed up. It’s one of the more difficult moves to save for the goalie,” Hughes said.
Carleton Place is back in action on Sunday when they travel to face the Nepean Raiders before a trio of home games, first on Tuesday against the Gloucester Rangers before hosting the Cornwall Colts on Friday and the Brockville Braves on the following Sunday.
Notes
Early in the third period, Friesen left the game with a cut on his left arm after getting cut by the skate of Craig McCabe when the two of them went to the ice at the Carleton Place blue line.
Sage Englund picked up his first point with Carleton Place with an assist on Grant’s goal.
Smiths Falls Bears pull out a 5-3 win over Gloucester Rangers
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
The Gloucester Rangers made their first trip to the Bears Den riding a three-game winning streak. The Rangers have made a significant improvement in their play since an ownership and coaching change was made in October. They gave the Bears all they could handle as the locals were forced to score three goals in the third period to come up with a 5-3 win.
The Bears broke out on top as rookie Brian Bygrave netted his second of the season as he banged in a rebound of a Kyle Dowdall shot at 2:45 of the first period. Linemate Kris Lalonde notched the second assist on the icebreaker to put the Bears up 1-0. Gloucester’s Liam Peyton tied the game at 1-1 when he beat Brenna Kitchen with a blast to the glove side at 9:18. Smiths Falls outshot Gloucester 21-11 for the initial period of play while Smiths Falls took two of the three minor penalties called.
Gloucester took a 2-1 advantage when Shane McCrank scored at the 10:53 mark of the second period. Hunter Garlasco’s fourth goal of the season while the Bears were on the power play tied the game at 2-2. Michael McKenney and Kyle Dowdall registered the assists at 14:18. Gloucester regained the lead at 19:29 as Dan Martin scored a powerplay goal to put the Rangers up 3-2 heading into the third period. The shots were 12-12 and again the Bears were whistled for two of the three penalties.
Rookie Alex DiCarlo sparked the Bears comeback as he netted his fourth of the campaign while the Bears were on the power play at 5:45. William Searle and Cole Busschaert scored assists on the Bears second power play goal of the night. At 15:40 the Bears took the lead for good as Marc Shannon scored his sixth of the year with Searle and Lalonde setting up the talented rookie.
Gloucester pulled their goalie in an attempt to tie the game. Brett Garvey put the home fans at ease as he netted an empty net insurance marker at 19:49 to secure a 5-3 win. Cole Busschaert set up Garvey with his second assist of the night.
Smiths Falls outshot Gloucester 19-17 while taking 4 of the 7 penalties handed out.
Bear Facts
Power plays: Bears 2-4 Gloucester 1-7
Penalty totals: Bears 16 minutes on 8 infractions Gloucester 10 minutes on 5 infractions
Shots: Bears 51 Gloucester 40
1st Star Kyle Dowdall (Bears)
2nd Star Kris Lalonde (Bears)
3rd Star Dario Latessa (Gloucester)
The Bears entertain the Brockville Braves on Tuesday, Nov.8. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. at the Bears Den.
Canadians stay atop league standings with victory over Nepean
By Daniel Vazzoler
Courtesy of Carleton Place Canadians
The Carleton Place Canadians beat the Nepean Raiders 5-1 on Sunday, Oct.23 and maintained their position in first place of the CCHL. They face off against the Kemptville 73s tonight.
For Canadians head coach Jason Clarke, where they are in the standings isn’t as important as how they are playing.
“I don’t think for us it’s about where we are in the standings, I think it’s more about our standard of play … and our standard of play wasn’t very good the last two games,” Clarke said. “It’s just good to see us get back to the way we know we can play hockey and it was a good win for us [Sunday].”
Part of what led to back-to-back losses in their last two games was penalty troubles, and allowing power play goals off of those penalties – giving up six power play goals over those two games. Those who had the penalty problems had them addressed by Clarke as they were left out of the lineup on Sunday.
“We’ve been having a lot of discipline issues with guys taking bad penalties. [Thomas] Keane took a bad penalty (on Friday), [Shawn] Kennedy took a bad penalty, and [Troy] MacTavish took a bad penalty and if you’re going to put yourself ahead of the team then you’re not going to play, it’s as simple as that,” says Clarke. “Enough is enough. We’ve been taking a lot of undisciplined penalties over the last three or four games and it’s cost our team four points.”
Clarke added that if players continue to take bad penalties, then they will spend some time out of the lineup until the team improves their discipline.
The Raiders and Canadians played a scoreless first period with Canadians goalie Connor Hughes and Raiders goalie Marshall Frappier not being tested too much in the opening frame. Hughes faced two shots in the first period and Frappier made six saves.
Ben Sellars, playing in the spot of Keane, opened the scoring and gave Carleton Place the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the second period. His wrist shot from the blue-line got past a sliding Raider trying to get into the shooting lane, as well as a pair of defenders in front of the net that created a screen in front of Frappier.
Carleton Place added to their lead with a goal from Ben Tupker late in the second period. Tupker got a stick on the point shot from Aiden Girduckis and the deflected shot bounced between the legs of Frappier before trickling over the goal line.
After taking a penalty late in the second period, it looked like Alex Friesen could have been a candidate to sit a game, but he responded well after the penalty with a three-point effort after spending time in the penalty box.
Friesen got his offensive output started right after stepping out of the box. He used his speed to help force a turnover just outside the Canadians zone. He then flew up the ice to get the loose puck that was poked away from Connor Merkley and continued his momentum down around the net. He came out from behind the net uncontested and put his backhand shot over the shoulder of Frappier to get a 3-0 lead before the end of the period.
Andrew Dodson added a goal early in the third period before PJ Heger scored the lone Raider goal – coming on the power play. After recent penalty killing troubles, Carleton Place held Nepean to 1-6 on the power play.
“We tried not to overthink it before the game,” said Owen Grant. “We know there’s been a couple of bad bounces and some missed coverages so we just had to bear down and have confidence in ourselves.”
Matt Lombardozzi added that the opposition’s power play entries had been troublesome for Carleton Place and led to most of the power play goals against them. He said that focusing on how Nepean dumped the puck in when they were on the power play helped the Canadians kill off their penalties.
Players like Lombardozzi and Logan Buchanan who like to play physically struggled getting into the game as players were doing a good job of avoiding getting hit.
“I definitely feed off physicality, it gives me positive vibes. But I think moving the puck quick and making crisp, tape-to-tape passes, not necessarily trying to go out there and make the big hit, that works too,” Lombardozzi said.
Connor Hill added a goal with less than six minutes to go in the game with a laser-like wrist shot after picking up the pass from Friesen.
Carleton Place is on the road for a pair of games as they travel on the road to face the Kemptville 73s tonight (Friday, Oct.28) and then the Cumberland Grads on Sunday, Oct.30 before coming home for a Bogart Cup rematch against the Ottawa Jr. Senators on Friday, Nov. 4.
Penalty killing troubles lead Canadians to loss against Hawkesbury
Courtesy of Daniel Vazzoler and Carleton Place Canadians
After allowing the Kemptville 73s to score three power play goals against them, Carleton Place let Hawkesbury go 3-6 with the man advantage as, once again, special teams were a key factor in their defeat.
David Jankowski put the Hawks out in front mid-way through the first period as he finished off the one-timer from in tight on Canadians starting goalie Connor Hughes. Jankowski’s quick shot beat the goaltender low on the glove side.
Connor Merkley tied the game with a power play goal with the Canadians on a 5-on-3 advantage. Carleton Place worked the puck around the perimeter of the zone, and when Andrew Dodson moved the puck to the front of the net, the rebound kicked out to Merkley in front and he deposited the loose puck past Matthew Chan.
Both goalies were kept busy in the first period – Carleton Place had 18 shots while Hawkesbury had 15 – but Hawkesbury controlled the second period, outshooting Carleton Place 22-8 in the period.
In a four-minute span, the Hawks took control of the game, scoring three goals to take a 4-1 lead.
Jankowski scored his second goal of the game at 7:57 into the middle period. He collected the rebound from Giancarlo Fiori’s wide shot and banked the puck into the net from behind the goal-line.
Jonathan Cyr then added the first power play goal for the Hawks before Chris Smith added another power play tally on a 5-on-3 chance of their own. Smith finished off the cross-crease pass with a one-timer that went over the pad of Hughes as he slid across the front of the net to try and make the save.
Hughes had his night end early when Charles Levesque snuck in from the back side and added the third power play goal that slid through Hughes with 3:57 remaining in the second period. After the goal, Michael Leach came in to replace Hughes.
Carleton Place came back in the third period, but ran out of time before they were able to level the score.
Joey Warywoda got the Canadians back on the board as he beat his man to the front of the net, leaving him wide open for a one-timer between the hash-marks that beat Chan to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Tim Theocharidis drew Carleton Place to within two goals with 7:43 remaining in the third period with a power play goal. A loose puck slid out to Theocharidis near the blue-line and his long wrist shot found a way through the traffic in front of Chan and beat the Hawks goalie, giving the Canadians a chance to level the game.
Carleton Place couldn’t take advantage of the time they had to level the score, but Alex Friesen added a late goal with an extra attacker on the ice to make the score 5-4. But with six seconds left in the game, there was no time left for Carleton Place to tie the game.
Bears win over Cumberland move team into second place
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
editorial@pdgmedia.ca
It is hockey lore that your goalie needs to be your best penalty killer. On Sunday, Oct.23 in Navan, Smiths Falls goalie Brad Dobson stood tall as he faced 43 shots and saved 41 as the Bears secured a 4-2 win over Cumberland. The win moved the Bears into second place overall in the 12 team CCHL.
The Bears struck quickly as Alex Kealey snapped a low shot that alluded Cumberland goalie Ryan Coughlin just 15 seconds into the game. Kealey’s ice breaker is his fourth of the year and was unassisted. The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead when rookie Alex DiCarlo showed some soft hands as he beat Coughlin while the Bears were on the powerplay. DiCarlo’s third of the season was set up by veterans Brett Garvey and Jared Henry. The Bears were outshot 11-7 and the referees were busy as they whistled 5 penalties with 3 taken by the Bears.
The Bears penalty problems continued in the second period as the Bears took a minor penalty as well as a 5 minute major for boarding. Dobson and the penalty killers stood tall until Martin Frechette scored at 15:57 to draw Cumberland within a goal of Smiths Falls. The Grads outshot the Bears 18-9 in the middle stanza due in part to the Bears penalty troubles.
The third period promised to be another Bears cliffhanger. At 4:02 of the final period the Bears extended their lead to 3-1 as Nic Coates set up Tre Folkes who made no mistake with his shot to the blocker side. Jared Henry earned his second point of the game with the second assist on Folkes seventh goal of the campaign. The insurance marker was required as Joey Sallazzo banged in a rebound at 16:32 to set up a thrilling finish. With Coughlin pulled for an extra attacker, Cole Busschaert iced the game as he scored his team leading 13th goal with Folkes and Garvey setting him up at 18:42. Smiths Falls took both the minor penalties assessed in the third period as the Bears were outshot 14-9.
The win is Dobson’s fifth of the year as the Bears improve to 12-5-2-1.
Next Game – The Bears head to Kemptville on Tuesday, Oct.25 to take on the 73s for a 7:30 puck drop at the North Grenville Arena
Hill-Kitt-Merkley continue hot streak in Canadians win over Kanata
Courtesy of Carleton Place Canadians
By Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians (13-4-0-0) have had recent success as a team, in large part due to the success of the line of Connor Merkley–Geoff Kitt–Brent Hill line – which continued again on Friday in the Canadians 8-2 victory over the Kanata Lasers (6-9-1-0).
Over the past four games, the trio has combined for 24 points – including 10 points from the line on Friday.
“I think it’s just been patience and having fun,” says Kitt about the success of his line. “We aren’t really getting mad at each other on the bench or anything, we just kind of let things fall into place and that seems to be working really well.”
“We talked about it in practice one day that we were just going to, honestly, have the best time that we could every day at the rink,” adds Merkley, one of the Canadians assistant captains. “We joke around a lot on the bench and … keep it light, but when we’re out there (on the ice), we still do a job. It’s been a lot of fun, probably the most fun I’ve had playing junior hockey.”
That line got the Canadians on the board 1:14 into the game, with Merkley snapping a wrist shot past the glove of Anand Oberoi, catching the Lasers goaltender moving the wrong way after the pass across the slot from Kitt.
The lead held up until the last two minutes of the period, when Declan Hilton was left alone at the back post for a tap-in power play goal. Merkley jumped up into the scrum against the boards and the puck skipped past him, creating the two-on-one chance in the zone. Samuel Bitten passed across the crease to Hilton and he deposited the puck into the net.
Carleton Place responded to that goal in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals with at least one of Hill, Kitt or Merkley being part of the first three.
Head coach Jason Clarke says that the key to the success of that line is they do “the little things right.”
“They take time and space away from their opponents and make the ice real small when the other team’s got the puck and they’re getting pucks back,” Clarke says. “Not only are they good at controlled entries, but they’re also good at creating turnovers (by the other team) with their instincts and their feet and their sticks, and if you do that you’re going to get yourself a lot of second chances.”
Hill put the Canadians back in front with one-timed shot after Merkley deked past a pair of Lasers defenders to set up the pass and goal 1:00 into the middle period.
Merkley scored what ended up being the game-winning goal 3:33 later with a shot right under the cross-bar that caught a piece of Oberoi’s shoulder on the way by him.
Merkley also picked up an assist on a goal from Aiden Girduckis to wrap up his four-point game that led the game in scoring – Kitt, Hill and Owen Grant each had three points in the game.
Carleton Place also had goals from Alex Friesen, Andrew Dodson, Troy MacTavish and Ben Tupker who notched his first career CCHL goal with quick shot from the front of the net that beat Ryan Franz – Franz replaced Oberoi at the start of the third period.
Kanata added a goal late in the third period, again, off a two-on-one chance that resulted in a tap-in goal that left Canadians goalie Connor Hughes visibly upset.
“It was a lot of odd-man rushes in the third (period) and I was upset that I couldn’t get to the puck in time, but I was just upset with how that whole third period kind of went for me,” he said. “I know I made a good save [earlier] but it was just a little upsetting giving up the second goal, never want to let in goals.”
“Hughes is a competitor, he doesn’t like to let any goals in,” says Clarke. “That’s what makes him such a good goaltender, it’s a 7-1 game (at the time), he lets the second goal in and he’s pissed. That just shows you the type of character that he has and how he wants to continue to push himself all the time and that’s why he’s the most elite goaltender in the country.”
The Canadians are back in action on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Carleton Place when they face the Kemptville 73’s, who beat Carleton Place in their last meeting on Oct. 7 in Kemptville 4-2.
Smiths Falls Bears stumble in Hawkbury
Courtesy of the Smiths Falls Bears
The Hawkesbury Hawks and the Smiths Falls Bears played on Saturday night for the first time since the Hawks eliminated the Bears from the 2015-2016 CCHL playoffs last spring in four straight games. Unfortunately the result was the same as the young Bears fell 5-3 to the veteran Hawks.
Smiths Falls scored first as it only took 3:49 minutes for Marc Shannon to finish off a slick give and go passing play with linemate Alex DiCarlo and beat Matthew Chan in the Hawks net for a 1-0 lead. Rookie defenceman Bailey Newton recorded the second assist on Shannon’s fifth goal of the season. Veteran centreman Brett Everson tied the game for Hawkesbury at 6:57 and slick Charles Levesque put the Hawks ahead at 15:28 with a powerplay marker. The Bears were outshot 15-11 after 20 minutes of play and each team received one minor penalty.
The Hawks stretched their lead to 3-1 at 6:27 of the second period as Ryan Bunka’s blast from the point on the powerplay beat Brennan Kitchen in the Bears net. The Bears leading scorer Cole Busschaert drew the Bears within a goal with his seventh of the season at 14:54. Jared Henry and rookie Ryan Gibson were credited with the assists. Hawkesbury regained their two goal advantage when Chris Smith scored at 17:42. The Bears were outshot 21-12 in the second period and took the only penalty during the middle 20 minutes of play.
Jacob Drobczyk made some fancy moves walking out of the corner to give Hawkesbury a commanding 5-2 advantage at 10:40 of the third period before Busschaert scored his eighth of the season for his team leading 16th point of the season at 18:12. Brayden Schiff and Ethan Coltart set up Busschaert to give the Bears hope. Despite pulling Kitchen for an extra attacker, the score remained 5-3 as the final buzzer sounded. Each team recorded nine shots in the third period and Hawkesbury took the only minor penalty.
Next Game: The two team meet again on Tuesday, 7:30 pm, at the Bears Den.
Overtime goal propels Smiths Falls Bears to a 3-2 win over Gloucester
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
editorial@pdgmedia.ca
The Bears knew they would have their hands full with the revitalized Gloucester Rangers as they prepared to play them on Thanksgiving Monday afternoon at the Earl Armstrong Arena. The Rangers were 2-2 coming into the Bears game since new ownership had taken over and Dan Sauve was brought in as head coach and general manager. After a sluggish start the Bears had to battle into overtime before prevailing 3-2 in overtime thanks to Alex DiCarlo’s winner.
The Bears started out sluggish and the Rangers came out strong. The Bears slowly get their legs under them and finished the scoreless 1st period with the same 7 shots as Gloucester. The Bears Ryan Gibson took the only minor of the opening period.
Gloucester’s Mike McArthur scored the ice breaker while Gloucester was on the powerplay at 7:04 of the 2nd period. Hamilton native Marc Shannon’s 3rd of the season tied the game at 1-1. Shannon’s goal was an unassisted marker at 11:47 as he put a slick move on the Gloucester defender before beating Michael Cullen on the blocker side. Smiths Falls gave up a breakaway at 17:12 & Dan Martin deked & beat Brad Dobson 5 hole to regain the lead, 2-1. Gloucester outshot the Bears 11-10 in the 2nd stanza while each team was penalized with 2 minor infractions.
The Bears brought more urgency to their game as they began the 3rd period down a goal. Territorial play was in the Bears favour but the game remained 2-1 until Nic Coates walked from behind the net and made a slick backhand pass to Alex Kealy whose low shot alluded Cullen & tied the game with only 3:04 remaining in regulation time. Cullen was the busier of the two goalies as he faced 11 shots as compared to Dobson who only faced 3, 3rd period shots in the Bears net. The refs called 4 minor penalties in the 3rd period, two to each team.
The Bears entered their sixth overtime game of the season with a 2-3 record. Just 51 seconds into the fourth period, the Hill Academy teammates Shannon and DiCarlo struck to end the game with a Bears 3-2 win. Shannon forced the Gloucester defender into a turnover with a strong forecheck, DiCarlo walked out of the corner & showed great patience as he skated across the goal line and outwaited Cullen before scoring the winning goal. The goal was the Niagara Falls natives 2nd in two games this weekend. The goal was the only shot recorded in the extra session by either team.
Bear Facts
Powerplays – Bears 0-4, Gloucester 1-3
Penalty Totals – Bears 4 infractions for 8 minutes, Gloucester 5 infractions for 10 minutes
Shots – Bears 29, Gloucester 21
Game Length – 2:02
Attendance – 272
3 Stars
1st Star: Marc Shannon (Bears)
2nd Star: Mike McArthur (Gloucester)
3rd Star: Alex DiCarlo (Bears)
Next Game: Friday Oct. 14 at the Bears Den, 7:30 p.m. as the Cumberland Grads come to town.
Posts Tagged ‘hockey’
Bears start the weekend off with a win over Kemptville
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
After a disappointing effort on Nov. 10 in a 6-2 loss to Kanata, the Bears bounced back 24 hours with a strong effort in defeating the Kemptville 73s 6-4 at the Bears Den.
Newly acquired Mathieu Franche netted his first goal as a Bear and second on the season to put the Bears up 1-0 at 14:45 of the opening period. Franche’s power play marker was assisted by the Bears leading scorer Cole Busschaert. The Bears struck again just 51 seconds later when Alex Kealey deflected Scott Gervais’s point shot by Peter Brooks. The goal was Kealey’s sixth of the season.
Bobby Dow cut into the Bears lead when he beat Brad Dobson from the slot at 18:13. Smiths Falls out shot Kemptville 13-11 while the 73s took three of the five penalties handed out.
Kemptville tied the game at 2-2 when their leading scorer Matt Tugnutt dented the twine just 17 seconds into the middle stanza. The Bears regained their lead when Ashton’s Brett Garvey wrist shot beat Brooks from the point. Garvey’s sixth marker of the year was set up by rookie’s Alex DiCarlo and Marc Shannon.
Kemptville replaced Brooks with former Bear Nick Hodgins after the Garvey marker. Smiths Falls held a 13-11 shot advantage while taking four of the five penalties including a scrap between Nic Coates and Jack R. York at the 19:01 mark.
The fans could have been expecting a tight defensive third period as the Bears would try to protect their 3-2 advantage. Instead the teams combined for five goals in a wild final 20 minutes of play. Michael McKenney opened the third period scoring with his 7th goal at 5:33 with Hunter Garlasco and Garvey drawing the helpers.
Kemptville made it 4-3 when Neal Samanski’s shot alluded Dobson at 8:39. Busschaert’s fifteenth goal of the campaign regained the Bears two goal advantage after he was set up by Garlasco & Tre Folkes. The fans moved to the edge of their seats as Kemptville scored at 14:15 on the powerplay to make the score 5-4. It was not until Garlasco raced down the ice, corralled a loose puck and scored his sixth of the season into a Kemptville empty net to secure a 6-4 win. Busschaert and Jared Henry were credited with the assists.
Smiths Falls out shot Kemptville 16-4 in the 3rd period and each team took a single minor penalty.
The Bears return to action on Friday, Nov. 18 as the Cornwall Colts come to the Bears Den.
Trio of Canadians pick up firsts with the tea
Courtesy of the Carleton Place Canadians and Daniel Vazzoler
Justin Cmunt, Sage Englund and Peyton Francis all picked up important firsts with the Carleton Place Canadians in Tuesday’s 9-3 win over the Gloucester Rangers at the Carleton Place Arena.
Englund and Francis both picked up their first goals playing for Carleton Place, while Cmunt picked up his first point playing in his first game. Englund had picked up one assist in his first four games with Carleton Place, and he had a goal and an assist against Gloucester.
“It feels good to get the monkey off my back finally and hopefully now I can just continue (to score) and keep it going,” said Englund.
After Matt Lombardozzi gave the Canadians the lead midway through the first period with a long wrist shot that beat Michael Cullen, Englund doubled the Canadians lead 3:34 later.
“It was a three on two, the puck went over to [Samuel] Knoblauch and he just dropped it back to me. I was the high guy and just kind of shot the puck and it just went top glove. It felt pretty good,” he said.
Francis added to the lead late in the first period, finishing off some hard work from Troy MacTavish. MacTavish fought off the Rangers defender at the side of the net and slid the puck across to Francis, giving him an almost open net to tap in the puck for his first goal.
“It’s good for Franny to get in the lineup and get his first one under his belt,” MacTavish said. “He’s been working hard in practice for us all week and it was a good team effort tonight, everyone was working hard.”
MacTavish had a strong effort on Tuesday, creating chances around the Rangers net by skating the puck hard to the net and jamming the puck around Cullen’s pads. With the assist, he ended a five-game streak without picking up a point.
“If you work hard, the bounces are going to come,” he said. “Sometimes you’re going to go through slumps where you don’t get the bounces and they don’t go in for you and I feel like, now, I’m starting to turn the curve and they’re starting to go in for me.”
After a strong opening period, the Canadians stumbled at the start of the second period. Gloucester scored a pair of goals in the first 4:06 of the middle period to tense up the atmosphere in the arena.
The crowd got even more concerned when Drew Shields danced between a pair of Canadians defenders and slipped the puck past Connor Hughes to level the score.
“I think we just got complacent,” said Canadians head coach Jason Clarke. “We were dominant in the first period and then we got complacent. We jumped back on the horse in the third and played hard. And once we start playing hard, with the way we’ve been playing over the last little bit, we’re going to dominate games and that’s what we did.”
The Carleton Place domination to end the game started with Andrew Dodson snapping a loose puck in the slot just inside the post, barely bulging the twine over Cullen’s blocker with a power play goal with less than three minutes to go in the second period.
The Canadians headed into the third period with a 4-3 lead and had four different goal scorers. They continued they’re attack with five more goals from five different players in the final period – including three goals in the first 5:25 to chase Cullen out of the net as Dario Latessa replaced Cullen in the Rangers net.
Logan Buchanan was one of the five goal scorers in the third period for his first goal of the season after 18 games. After coming up clutch in the playoffs last season for the Canadians, with a pair of goals in the Bogart Cup Finals and getting a goal at the Fred Page Cup, Buchanan said he didn’t expect his first goal to come this late into the season.
“Playoff hockey’s a different mentality,” he said. “Teams play a lot harder so you figure, once you get into league you’ll be playing against teams that are good but you’re not playing against teams that are performing at that are playing at that playoff performance yet.
“Once they get to the playoff performance, it’s ridiculous how hard it is to score. I got lucky last year playing with (Maxime) St. Pierre and (Will) LeNeave, they were feeding me pucks just like (Shawn) Kennedy and Englund are this year,” Buchanan continued. “I’m just getting pucks and putting them towards the net, hopefully I get rewarded as soon as possible.”
Making his debut with the team, Cmunt notched an assist as he said he tried to make an impact in his first game.
“I wanted to come in and assert myself and make some plays and it worked out,” he said. “I’ll thank Sam (Knoblauch) for the goal there, and I’m happy to get on the score sheet.”
For the players who picked up their first points or goals, they said that it helps them fit in to the locker room with their new team.
“We’re all here for a reason, they believe in us and I think guys expect it but it looks good when we do come through on the score sheet,” Cmunt said.
“We’re a pretty tight group here, and these new guys coming in, they seem like really nice guys,” MacTavish added. “We’re pretty close with them already and it’s nice to see everyone chip in. The guys that haven’t been here too long, that don’t know the systems that well, to see them chip in is really good.”
Buchanan echoed MacTavish’s sentiments, saying points from the new players can help them settle into the room and “when they get their first, obviously, the reactions are priceless and it’s just awesome to see.”
Carleton Place continues their home stand on Friday, Nov. 11 when the Cornwall Colts visit the Carleton Place Arena before the Brockville Braves come to town on Sunday, Nov. 13
Penalties almost cost Canadians victory over Ottawa
Courtesy of Daniel Vazzoler and Carleton Place Canadians
The Carleton Place Canadians had a 3-2 lead late in Friday night’s game (Nov.4) against the Ottawa Jr. Senators when a pair of penalties – one undisciplined, the other not so much – created the opportunity for Ottawa to tie the score with 1:07 remaining in regulation.
“We got ourselves into trouble too, like the first penalty we took (late in the third), you know, Connor Merkley’s not taking a very good penalty – a very selfish penalty and then it kind of went from there,” said Canadians coach Jason Clarke.
“The penalties that were called in the third period were atrocious,” he continued. “There’s nothing you can do about that; all you can do is control what you can control. I thought our penalty killing was good – both goals they scored were 6-on-4, they pulled the goaltender on both goals and got some good bounces.”
After offensive struggles in the first two periods, the game was a 1-1 tie heading into the third period thanks to goals from Alex Friesen and Zachary Cross for Carleton Place and Ottawa respectively.
Connor Hughes made 22 saves in the first two periods, and ended up making 40 saves in the game; while Ian Andriano got the role of starting goalie for Ottawa, making 24 saves on the night.
In the third period, the Canadians struck quickly with a pair of goals 1:05 apart.
Connor Hill gave Carleton Place the 2-1 lead with a power play goal 8:22 into the period with a one-timer that he fanned on, fooling Andriano as he slid past the shot that ended up catching a piece of the post on its way into the net.
Owen Grant doubled the lead to two goals with a shot from almost along the goal-line that banked in off of Andriano and into the net.
Momentum changed in favour of Ottawa after a big hit from Logan Buchanan on Cam White led to a boarding penalty to the young Canadians forward, and a fight between the two players.
Although Buchanan won the fight and got the Canadians bench and the crowd of 407 people at Carleton Place Arena to their feet, the Jr. Senators took advantage of the power play with a goal from Jaren Burke while Andriano was on the bench for the extra attacker.
Then the penalty troubles began for Carleton Place.
Merkley took a slashing penalty by going in hard on the forecheck and the referee saw him being too aggressive with his stick.
While short handed, Geoff Kitt went to chase down a loose puck in the Ottawa zone – again with Andriano on the bench and an empty net for Ottawa – but got tangled up with Thomas Stevenson. The two battled for the loose puck and as Stevenson got bumped down, he latched on to Kitt and brought him down to the ice but Kitt was the one who got the interference penalty.
Ottawa couldn’t take advantage of the 6-on-3 advantage with the empty net but with Kitt still in the box, Nicolas Samson scored a power play goal to tie the game.
“We weren’t too down (after giving up the goals) because we knew [the penalties] were bad calls,” Carleton Place captain Andrew Dodson said. “We just couldn’t get the right bounces but we battled through that and stayed positive. We knew we were going to pull out the two points and keep working hard, and we were lucky to do that.”
Neither team could score an over-time goal forcing the game into a shoot-out.
Cross was the first shooter for Ottawa and he slid the puck through the legs of Hughes cutting from Hughes’ blocker side across the crease to open up the goalie’s five-hole.
Ottawa couldn’t add another goal in the shoot-out and Carleton Place was down to Merkley who had to score to continue the shoot-out. He made the same move as Cross and had the same result as he continued the game.
After Hughes stopped Jackson Alexeev, Dodson had a chance to win the game for the Canadians and he made no mistake. He faked a wrist shot before deking to the backhand and sliding the puck through the opened up five-hole of Andriano.
“I was kind of nervous,” Dodson said about his attempt, “but I knew it was deep into the shoot-out and Hughes played great for us in the shoot-out and stoned those guys. I knew I had to bear down and went to my go-to move and was lucky it paid off.”
The first four Ottawa shooters all tried similar moves against Hughes by going down on his blocker side before cutting across towards his trapper.
“I don’t know, I thought about that too,” Hughes said. “I think they were trying to fake me out on the shot and then cut across. But after the first one, I kind of realized that they were going to try that move.”
All three goals in the shoot-out were scored with the same move – a fake shot before going to the backhand to open up the goalie’s five-hole for the goal.
“It’s really difficult (to stop) because the fake makes a goalie open up and when you open up it’s hard to get back closed up. It’s one of the more difficult moves to save for the goalie,” Hughes said.
Carleton Place is back in action on Sunday when they travel to face the Nepean Raiders before a trio of home games, first on Tuesday against the Gloucester Rangers before hosting the Cornwall Colts on Friday and the Brockville Braves on the following Sunday.
Notes
Early in the third period, Friesen left the game with a cut on his left arm after getting cut by the skate of Craig McCabe when the two of them went to the ice at the Carleton Place blue line.
Sage Englund picked up his first point with Carleton Place with an assist on Grant’s goal.
Smiths Falls Bears pull out a 5-3 win over Gloucester Rangers
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
The Gloucester Rangers made their first trip to the Bears Den riding a three-game winning streak. The Rangers have made a significant improvement in their play since an ownership and coaching change was made in October. They gave the Bears all they could handle as the locals were forced to score three goals in the third period to come up with a 5-3 win.
The Bears broke out on top as rookie Brian Bygrave netted his second of the season as he banged in a rebound of a Kyle Dowdall shot at 2:45 of the first period. Linemate Kris Lalonde notched the second assist on the icebreaker to put the Bears up 1-0. Gloucester’s Liam Peyton tied the game at 1-1 when he beat Brenna Kitchen with a blast to the glove side at 9:18. Smiths Falls outshot Gloucester 21-11 for the initial period of play while Smiths Falls took two of the three minor penalties called.
Gloucester took a 2-1 advantage when Shane McCrank scored at the 10:53 mark of the second period. Hunter Garlasco’s fourth goal of the season while the Bears were on the power play tied the game at 2-2. Michael McKenney and Kyle Dowdall registered the assists at 14:18. Gloucester regained the lead at 19:29 as Dan Martin scored a powerplay goal to put the Rangers up 3-2 heading into the third period. The shots were 12-12 and again the Bears were whistled for two of the three penalties.
Rookie Alex DiCarlo sparked the Bears comeback as he netted his fourth of the campaign while the Bears were on the power play at 5:45. William Searle and Cole Busschaert scored assists on the Bears second power play goal of the night. At 15:40 the Bears took the lead for good as Marc Shannon scored his sixth of the year with Searle and Lalonde setting up the talented rookie.
Gloucester pulled their goalie in an attempt to tie the game. Brett Garvey put the home fans at ease as he netted an empty net insurance marker at 19:49 to secure a 5-3 win. Cole Busschaert set up Garvey with his second assist of the night.
Smiths Falls outshot Gloucester 19-17 while taking 4 of the 7 penalties handed out.
Bear Facts
Power plays: Bears 2-4 Gloucester 1-7
Penalty totals: Bears 16 minutes on 8 infractions Gloucester 10 minutes on 5 infractions
Shots: Bears 51 Gloucester 40
1st Star Kyle Dowdall (Bears)
2nd Star Kris Lalonde (Bears)
3rd Star Dario Latessa (Gloucester)
The Bears entertain the Brockville Braves on Tuesday, Nov.8. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. at the Bears Den.
Canadians stay atop league standings with victory over Nepean
By Daniel Vazzoler
Courtesy of Carleton Place Canadians
The Carleton Place Canadians beat the Nepean Raiders 5-1 on Sunday, Oct.23 and maintained their position in first place of the CCHL. They face off against the Kemptville 73s tonight.
For Canadians head coach Jason Clarke, where they are in the standings isn’t as important as how they are playing.
“I don’t think for us it’s about where we are in the standings, I think it’s more about our standard of play … and our standard of play wasn’t very good the last two games,” Clarke said. “It’s just good to see us get back to the way we know we can play hockey and it was a good win for us [Sunday].”
Part of what led to back-to-back losses in their last two games was penalty troubles, and allowing power play goals off of those penalties – giving up six power play goals over those two games. Those who had the penalty problems had them addressed by Clarke as they were left out of the lineup on Sunday.
“We’ve been having a lot of discipline issues with guys taking bad penalties. [Thomas] Keane took a bad penalty (on Friday), [Shawn] Kennedy took a bad penalty, and [Troy] MacTavish took a bad penalty and if you’re going to put yourself ahead of the team then you’re not going to play, it’s as simple as that,” says Clarke. “Enough is enough. We’ve been taking a lot of undisciplined penalties over the last three or four games and it’s cost our team four points.”
Clarke added that if players continue to take bad penalties, then they will spend some time out of the lineup until the team improves their discipline.
The Raiders and Canadians played a scoreless first period with Canadians goalie Connor Hughes and Raiders goalie Marshall Frappier not being tested too much in the opening frame. Hughes faced two shots in the first period and Frappier made six saves.
Ben Sellars, playing in the spot of Keane, opened the scoring and gave Carleton Place the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the second period. His wrist shot from the blue-line got past a sliding Raider trying to get into the shooting lane, as well as a pair of defenders in front of the net that created a screen in front of Frappier.
Carleton Place added to their lead with a goal from Ben Tupker late in the second period. Tupker got a stick on the point shot from Aiden Girduckis and the deflected shot bounced between the legs of Frappier before trickling over the goal line.
After taking a penalty late in the second period, it looked like Alex Friesen could have been a candidate to sit a game, but he responded well after the penalty with a three-point effort after spending time in the penalty box.
Friesen got his offensive output started right after stepping out of the box. He used his speed to help force a turnover just outside the Canadians zone. He then flew up the ice to get the loose puck that was poked away from Connor Merkley and continued his momentum down around the net. He came out from behind the net uncontested and put his backhand shot over the shoulder of Frappier to get a 3-0 lead before the end of the period.
Andrew Dodson added a goal early in the third period before PJ Heger scored the lone Raider goal – coming on the power play. After recent penalty killing troubles, Carleton Place held Nepean to 1-6 on the power play.
“We tried not to overthink it before the game,” said Owen Grant. “We know there’s been a couple of bad bounces and some missed coverages so we just had to bear down and have confidence in ourselves.”
Matt Lombardozzi added that the opposition’s power play entries had been troublesome for Carleton Place and led to most of the power play goals against them. He said that focusing on how Nepean dumped the puck in when they were on the power play helped the Canadians kill off their penalties.
Players like Lombardozzi and Logan Buchanan who like to play physically struggled getting into the game as players were doing a good job of avoiding getting hit.
“I definitely feed off physicality, it gives me positive vibes. But I think moving the puck quick and making crisp, tape-to-tape passes, not necessarily trying to go out there and make the big hit, that works too,” Lombardozzi said.
Connor Hill added a goal with less than six minutes to go in the game with a laser-like wrist shot after picking up the pass from Friesen.
Carleton Place is on the road for a pair of games as they travel on the road to face the Kemptville 73s tonight (Friday, Oct.28) and then the Cumberland Grads on Sunday, Oct.30 before coming home for a Bogart Cup rematch against the Ottawa Jr. Senators on Friday, Nov. 4.
Penalty killing troubles lead Canadians to loss against Hawkesbury
Courtesy of Daniel Vazzoler and Carleton Place Canadians
After allowing the Kemptville 73s to score three power play goals against them, Carleton Place let Hawkesbury go 3-6 with the man advantage as, once again, special teams were a key factor in their defeat.
David Jankowski put the Hawks out in front mid-way through the first period as he finished off the one-timer from in tight on Canadians starting goalie Connor Hughes. Jankowski’s quick shot beat the goaltender low on the glove side.
Connor Merkley tied the game with a power play goal with the Canadians on a 5-on-3 advantage. Carleton Place worked the puck around the perimeter of the zone, and when Andrew Dodson moved the puck to the front of the net, the rebound kicked out to Merkley in front and he deposited the loose puck past Matthew Chan.
Both goalies were kept busy in the first period – Carleton Place had 18 shots while Hawkesbury had 15 – but Hawkesbury controlled the second period, outshooting Carleton Place 22-8 in the period.
In a four-minute span, the Hawks took control of the game, scoring three goals to take a 4-1 lead.
Jankowski scored his second goal of the game at 7:57 into the middle period. He collected the rebound from Giancarlo Fiori’s wide shot and banked the puck into the net from behind the goal-line.
Jonathan Cyr then added the first power play goal for the Hawks before Chris Smith added another power play tally on a 5-on-3 chance of their own. Smith finished off the cross-crease pass with a one-timer that went over the pad of Hughes as he slid across the front of the net to try and make the save.
Hughes had his night end early when Charles Levesque snuck in from the back side and added the third power play goal that slid through Hughes with 3:57 remaining in the second period. After the goal, Michael Leach came in to replace Hughes.
Carleton Place came back in the third period, but ran out of time before they were able to level the score.
Joey Warywoda got the Canadians back on the board as he beat his man to the front of the net, leaving him wide open for a one-timer between the hash-marks that beat Chan to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Tim Theocharidis drew Carleton Place to within two goals with 7:43 remaining in the third period with a power play goal. A loose puck slid out to Theocharidis near the blue-line and his long wrist shot found a way through the traffic in front of Chan and beat the Hawks goalie, giving the Canadians a chance to level the game.
Carleton Place couldn’t take advantage of the time they had to level the score, but Alex Friesen added a late goal with an extra attacker on the ice to make the score 5-4. But with six seconds left in the game, there was no time left for Carleton Place to tie the game.
Bears win over Cumberland move team into second place
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
editorial@pdgmedia.ca
It is hockey lore that your goalie needs to be your best penalty killer. On Sunday, Oct.23 in Navan, Smiths Falls goalie Brad Dobson stood tall as he faced 43 shots and saved 41 as the Bears secured a 4-2 win over Cumberland. The win moved the Bears into second place overall in the 12 team CCHL.
The Bears struck quickly as Alex Kealey snapped a low shot that alluded Cumberland goalie Ryan Coughlin just 15 seconds into the game. Kealey’s ice breaker is his fourth of the year and was unassisted. The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead when rookie Alex DiCarlo showed some soft hands as he beat Coughlin while the Bears were on the powerplay. DiCarlo’s third of the season was set up by veterans Brett Garvey and Jared Henry. The Bears were outshot 11-7 and the referees were busy as they whistled 5 penalties with 3 taken by the Bears.
The Bears penalty problems continued in the second period as the Bears took a minor penalty as well as a 5 minute major for boarding. Dobson and the penalty killers stood tall until Martin Frechette scored at 15:57 to draw Cumberland within a goal of Smiths Falls. The Grads outshot the Bears 18-9 in the middle stanza due in part to the Bears penalty troubles.
The third period promised to be another Bears cliffhanger. At 4:02 of the final period the Bears extended their lead to 3-1 as Nic Coates set up Tre Folkes who made no mistake with his shot to the blocker side. Jared Henry earned his second point of the game with the second assist on Folkes seventh goal of the campaign. The insurance marker was required as Joey Sallazzo banged in a rebound at 16:32 to set up a thrilling finish. With Coughlin pulled for an extra attacker, Cole Busschaert iced the game as he scored his team leading 13th goal with Folkes and Garvey setting him up at 18:42. Smiths Falls took both the minor penalties assessed in the third period as the Bears were outshot 14-9.
The win is Dobson’s fifth of the year as the Bears improve to 12-5-2-1.
Next Game – The Bears head to Kemptville on Tuesday, Oct.25 to take on the 73s for a 7:30 puck drop at the North Grenville Arena
Hill-Kitt-Merkley continue hot streak in Canadians win over Kanata
Courtesy of Carleton Place Canadians
By Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians (13-4-0-0) have had recent success as a team, in large part due to the success of the line of Connor Merkley–Geoff Kitt–Brent Hill line – which continued again on Friday in the Canadians 8-2 victory over the Kanata Lasers (6-9-1-0).
Over the past four games, the trio has combined for 24 points – including 10 points from the line on Friday.
“I think it’s just been patience and having fun,” says Kitt about the success of his line. “We aren’t really getting mad at each other on the bench or anything, we just kind of let things fall into place and that seems to be working really well.”
“We talked about it in practice one day that we were just going to, honestly, have the best time that we could every day at the rink,” adds Merkley, one of the Canadians assistant captains. “We joke around a lot on the bench and … keep it light, but when we’re out there (on the ice), we still do a job. It’s been a lot of fun, probably the most fun I’ve had playing junior hockey.”
That line got the Canadians on the board 1:14 into the game, with Merkley snapping a wrist shot past the glove of Anand Oberoi, catching the Lasers goaltender moving the wrong way after the pass across the slot from Kitt.
The lead held up until the last two minutes of the period, when Declan Hilton was left alone at the back post for a tap-in power play goal. Merkley jumped up into the scrum against the boards and the puck skipped past him, creating the two-on-one chance in the zone. Samuel Bitten passed across the crease to Hilton and he deposited the puck into the net.
Carleton Place responded to that goal in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals with at least one of Hill, Kitt or Merkley being part of the first three.
Head coach Jason Clarke says that the key to the success of that line is they do “the little things right.”
“They take time and space away from their opponents and make the ice real small when the other team’s got the puck and they’re getting pucks back,” Clarke says. “Not only are they good at controlled entries, but they’re also good at creating turnovers (by the other team) with their instincts and their feet and their sticks, and if you do that you’re going to get yourself a lot of second chances.”
Hill put the Canadians back in front with one-timed shot after Merkley deked past a pair of Lasers defenders to set up the pass and goal 1:00 into the middle period.
Merkley scored what ended up being the game-winning goal 3:33 later with a shot right under the cross-bar that caught a piece of Oberoi’s shoulder on the way by him.
Merkley also picked up an assist on a goal from Aiden Girduckis to wrap up his four-point game that led the game in scoring – Kitt, Hill and Owen Grant each had three points in the game.
Carleton Place also had goals from Alex Friesen, Andrew Dodson, Troy MacTavish and Ben Tupker who notched his first career CCHL goal with quick shot from the front of the net that beat Ryan Franz – Franz replaced Oberoi at the start of the third period.
Kanata added a goal late in the third period, again, off a two-on-one chance that resulted in a tap-in goal that left Canadians goalie Connor Hughes visibly upset.
“It was a lot of odd-man rushes in the third (period) and I was upset that I couldn’t get to the puck in time, but I was just upset with how that whole third period kind of went for me,” he said. “I know I made a good save [earlier] but it was just a little upsetting giving up the second goal, never want to let in goals.”
“Hughes is a competitor, he doesn’t like to let any goals in,” says Clarke. “That’s what makes him such a good goaltender, it’s a 7-1 game (at the time), he lets the second goal in and he’s pissed. That just shows you the type of character that he has and how he wants to continue to push himself all the time and that’s why he’s the most elite goaltender in the country.”
The Canadians are back in action on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Carleton Place when they face the Kemptville 73’s, who beat Carleton Place in their last meeting on Oct. 7 in Kemptville 4-2.
Smiths Falls Bears stumble in Hawkbury
Courtesy of the Smiths Falls Bears
The Hawkesbury Hawks and the Smiths Falls Bears played on Saturday night for the first time since the Hawks eliminated the Bears from the 2015-2016 CCHL playoffs last spring in four straight games. Unfortunately the result was the same as the young Bears fell 5-3 to the veteran Hawks.
Smiths Falls scored first as it only took 3:49 minutes for Marc Shannon to finish off a slick give and go passing play with linemate Alex DiCarlo and beat Matthew Chan in the Hawks net for a 1-0 lead. Rookie defenceman Bailey Newton recorded the second assist on Shannon’s fifth goal of the season. Veteran centreman Brett Everson tied the game for Hawkesbury at 6:57 and slick Charles Levesque put the Hawks ahead at 15:28 with a powerplay marker. The Bears were outshot 15-11 after 20 minutes of play and each team received one minor penalty.
The Hawks stretched their lead to 3-1 at 6:27 of the second period as Ryan Bunka’s blast from the point on the powerplay beat Brennan Kitchen in the Bears net. The Bears leading scorer Cole Busschaert drew the Bears within a goal with his seventh of the season at 14:54. Jared Henry and rookie Ryan Gibson were credited with the assists. Hawkesbury regained their two goal advantage when Chris Smith scored at 17:42. The Bears were outshot 21-12 in the second period and took the only penalty during the middle 20 minutes of play.
Jacob Drobczyk made some fancy moves walking out of the corner to give Hawkesbury a commanding 5-2 advantage at 10:40 of the third period before Busschaert scored his eighth of the season for his team leading 16th point of the season at 18:12. Brayden Schiff and Ethan Coltart set up Busschaert to give the Bears hope. Despite pulling Kitchen for an extra attacker, the score remained 5-3 as the final buzzer sounded. Each team recorded nine shots in the third period and Hawkesbury took the only minor penalty.
Next Game: The two team meet again on Tuesday, 7:30 pm, at the Bears Den.
Overtime goal propels Smiths Falls Bears to a 3-2 win over Gloucester
Courtesy of Smiths Falls Bears
editorial@pdgmedia.ca
The Bears knew they would have their hands full with the revitalized Gloucester Rangers as they prepared to play them on Thanksgiving Monday afternoon at the Earl Armstrong Arena. The Rangers were 2-2 coming into the Bears game since new ownership had taken over and Dan Sauve was brought in as head coach and general manager. After a sluggish start the Bears had to battle into overtime before prevailing 3-2 in overtime thanks to Alex DiCarlo’s winner.
The Bears started out sluggish and the Rangers came out strong. The Bears slowly get their legs under them and finished the scoreless 1st period with the same 7 shots as Gloucester. The Bears Ryan Gibson took the only minor of the opening period.
Gloucester’s Mike McArthur scored the ice breaker while Gloucester was on the powerplay at 7:04 of the 2nd period. Hamilton native Marc Shannon’s 3rd of the season tied the game at 1-1. Shannon’s goal was an unassisted marker at 11:47 as he put a slick move on the Gloucester defender before beating Michael Cullen on the blocker side. Smiths Falls gave up a breakaway at 17:12 & Dan Martin deked & beat Brad Dobson 5 hole to regain the lead, 2-1. Gloucester outshot the Bears 11-10 in the 2nd stanza while each team was penalized with 2 minor infractions.
The Bears brought more urgency to their game as they began the 3rd period down a goal. Territorial play was in the Bears favour but the game remained 2-1 until Nic Coates walked from behind the net and made a slick backhand pass to Alex Kealy whose low shot alluded Cullen & tied the game with only 3:04 remaining in regulation time. Cullen was the busier of the two goalies as he faced 11 shots as compared to Dobson who only faced 3, 3rd period shots in the Bears net. The refs called 4 minor penalties in the 3rd period, two to each team.
The Bears entered their sixth overtime game of the season with a 2-3 record. Just 51 seconds into the fourth period, the Hill Academy teammates Shannon and DiCarlo struck to end the game with a Bears 3-2 win. Shannon forced the Gloucester defender into a turnover with a strong forecheck, DiCarlo walked out of the corner & showed great patience as he skated across the goal line and outwaited Cullen before scoring the winning goal. The goal was the Niagara Falls natives 2nd in two games this weekend. The goal was the only shot recorded in the extra session by either team.
Bear Facts
Powerplays – Bears 0-4, Gloucester 1-3
Penalty Totals – Bears 4 infractions for 8 minutes, Gloucester 5 infractions for 10 minutes
Shots – Bears 29, Gloucester 21
Game Length – 2:02
Attendance – 272
3 Stars
1st Star: Marc Shannon (Bears)
2nd Star: Mike McArthur (Gloucester)
3rd Star: Alex DiCarlo (Bears)
Next Game: Friday Oct. 14 at the Bears Den, 7:30 p.m. as the Cumberland Grads come to town.
