Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Jr. Senators faced off against the Hawkesbury Hawks in the Bogart Cup Finals for Game 1 Thursday night and Game 2 on Friday night, which saw Philippe Jacques scoring the game winners to give Ottawa a 2-0 series lead.
Game 1:
Ottawa outshot the first period 12-4 against Hawkesbury. Despite being outshot, Ottawa was able to get off to a terrific start with goals from Gentile at even strength and Julan Recine on the power play. Before the period came to an end, Rylee Hlusiak scored his second of the playoffs. The goal came on the power play, which became a huge factor moving forward.
The Jr. Senators would take two more penalties from Mabey and Isabelle late in the second frame. It sets up a 5-on-3 for Hawkesbury and William Gendron would get the tying goal on a rebound.
Ottawa would once again get off to a great start during the third period. Vincent Velocci gave Ottawa a 3-2 lead, 2:28 into the third, and then Isabelle tapped it home in the open net. Ottawa would restore their two-goal lead.
Ottawa would get into penalty trouble for the third time in this game. Jeremy Quesnel would get it to 4-3 Ottawa. Hawkesbury’s power play went 3-for-6 in the game. With under 2:30 left in the third, the Hawks would pull goalie Matthew Tovell for an extra attacker. Eric Chamandy shot from the point and went bar down on Will Desmarais to tie the game.
The first overtime solved nothing, but Ottawa would score 59 seconds into double overtime from Philippe Jacques after he went between his legs in the attacking zone and was able to put the backhand shot past Tovell.
Hawkesbury outshot Ottawa 39-30. Ottawa’s power play went 1-for-3. Matthew Tovell made 25 saves while Will Desmarais made 35 saves and added an assist on Jacques’ game-winner.
Game 2:
It was another entertaining game between these two teams. After the first period solved nothing, Hawkesbury would capitalize on a 5-on-3 early in the second period from Jakson Kirk. This was coming off of two Ottawa penalties and Hawkesbury called their timeout before the goal. Right before the end of the second, Jeremy Tremblay outworked the Ottawa defense to bury his fifth of the playoffs.
Ottawa needed something during the third and were able to get off to a good start. Massimo Gentile scored off a rebound which cut the lead, but Max Klanow would respond for Hawkesbury that got them the two-goal lead back.
The Jr. Sens would not go away after trailing by two. Max Bush, while on a 1-on-2 rush got the first shot that was blocked but when falling to the ice, he somehow picked up the puck and buried his first career CCHL playoff goal. Ottawa would cut the lead to one goal.
William Gendron got a penalty for tripping which sets up the next big moment of game 2. The first power-play unit struggled all night, trying to produce scoring chances but Vincent Velocci scored off a Bodie Nobes shot from the mid-point and Velocci picked up the rebound.
The Jr. Sens would get the game to overtime for the second consecutive game. Both teams had some good quality chances to end the game, but once again Phillippe Jacques collected his second OT winner of the series.
Ottawa outshot Hawkesbury 35-33 during the game. Ottawa went 1-for-5 on the power play while Hawkesbury went 1-for-6. William Desmarais picked up his 9th win of the playoffs and made 30 saves. Hawkesbury netminder Matthew Tovell makes 31 saves in another loss.
Game 3 goes down tonight at 5:30pm at the Jim Durrell Recreational Complex. You can catch the action on the Jr. Senators broadcast network at mixlr.com/ojsradio, CKDJ 107.9, and Hockey TV.
