Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Jr. Senators (11-2-0) managed to take four of six points in the CCHL standings this past week, emerging victorious last Wednesday at home to Rockland, followed by a loss Friday at Hawkesbury, and finished off October with a win Sunday in Carleton Place.
Wednesday – Ottawa 5, Rockland 2
After nearly a month away from home, the Jr. Senators used the hometown crowd to their advantage to cruise to their fourth consecutive victory over the visiting Nationals.
The Jr. Senators opened the scoring with Simon Isabelle’s seventh of the season as he was able to capitalize on a second chance opportunity. Manny Cabral would answer just over two minutes later off a long shot from Alexandre Frechette was initially stopped by netminder William Desmarais. Sam Edwards gave the home side the lead in the final minute of the opening period as he was able to wait out Simon Couroux for his second of the season.
Alex Park buried his second of the season off a beautiful feed cross-crease from Mark MacPhee to extend the lead to two halfway through the second period. The goal from Park marks the Jr. Senators league-leading seventh short-handed tally of the season.
Philippe Jacques and Justin Dauphinais exchanged goals in the opening half of the third before Mark MacPhee would feed Xavier Guillemette for his first CCHL goal late in regulation.
William Desmarias made 27 stops for his fifth win of the season, while Nationals starter Simon Couroux turned aside 30 of 35.
The Jr. Senators went 0-for-2 on the man advantage while the Nationals went 1-for-2.
Friday – Hawkesbury 4, Ottawa 3
The Jr. Senators four-game winning streak came to an end, dropping a 4-3 decision to one of the league’s hottest teams in Hawkesbury.
With one of their best showings in the opening 20, outshooting the Hawks 12-5, OJS saw zero’s on the scoreboard. The Hawks got an early powerplay in the second and managed to beat Felix Schnell to break the ice.
Following a Jr. Senators powerplay 10 minutes later, the puck found Tyler Samodral off the bench for a clear-cut breakaway to convert for the second Hawks goal of the game. Under a minute later, Bodie Nobes forced a turnover in the offensive zone and fed Vincent Velocci at the right circle, who made no mistake to cut the lead in half.
Over three minutes into the third, OJS found themselves on a 3-on-1 and failed to beat Hawks starter and Ottawa 67’s signee Max Donoso, to potentially tie the game. The Hawks used that momentum to develop a 3-on-1 of their own, and after a non-offside call, Jeremy Tremblay beat Schnell to extend the lead.
Simon Isabelle got one back for the Jr. Senators, but Samodral batted home his second of the game to once again make it a two-goal Hawks lead with five to go in regulation. After taking back the play late in the third, it seemed like the Jr. Senators were going to make things interesting as David Mabey ripped one home over the shoulder of Donoso to make it a one-goal game with just over 30 seconds to go. The comeback fell short as Rick Dorval’s Hawks made zone entries very difficult in the late stages of the contest to propel the Hawks to victory.
Felix Schnell made 16 stops in his first loss of the season, while Hawks starter Max Donoso stayed red-hot since coming to the CCHL, turning aside 30 of 33.
The Jr. Senators went 0-for-2 on the man advantage while the Hawks went 1-for-3.
Sunday – Ottawa 4, Carleton Place 1
The Jr. Senators managed to bounce back in a huge Sunday afternoon game on the road in Carleton Place.
After the penalty kill surrendered their third special team’s goal of the week in the late stages of the first, Braxton Ross tied to score halfway through the second. The Kanata native picked up his second goal of the season, converting on the beautiful three-way passing play with Massimo Gentile and Philippe Jacques.
As regulation time drew near, the Jr. Senators ran into penalty trouble, taking three minor’s in the final frame, but the penalty kill proved to be huge to carry the momentum back in their favour.
Following being called for tripping in the offensive zone, Simon Isabelle was sprung out of the box and slipped one past Joe Chambers to have OJS up a goal with just over two minutes to go.
Philippe Jacques and Vincent Velocci each found the empty net in the ensuing minute to pad the Jr. Senators lead and 11th victory of the season.
William Desmarias made 17 stops for his sixth win of the season, while Canadians starter Simon Couroux turned aside 24.
The Jr. Senators went 0-for-2 on the man advantage while the Canadians went 1-for-4.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators return to the ice on Friday as they travel to Kemptville to battle the surging 73’s with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 PM. Catch all the action with Mason Detre and Davide Disipio on the Jr. Senators Broadcast Network at Mixlr.com/OJSradio and on Hockey TV.
