Smiths Falls, ON – The Ottawa Jr. Senators (9-1-0) seven-game road trip ended with a decisive 7-3 victory over the Smiths Falls Bears Friday night.
Bears sniper Brody Fournier would open up the scoring halfway through the first off a turnover, but it did not phase the Jr. Senators as they would reply 43 seconds later with Bodie Nobes’ first career junior goal.
It was the fourth time this season that a defenceman had gotten the Jr. Senators on the board.
In the second, the hockey gods played in favour of the Jr. Senators as Philippe Jacques was able to bury his eighth of the season on his league-leading sixth powerplay goal. Edward Moskowitz took advantage of a favourable bounce off a miss play from Bears netminder Victor Dejardins, which resulted in a wide-open cage for the Toronto native to deposit a shorthanded goal. Vincent Velocci finished off the scoring in the second to have his club in front 4-1 after 40.
“We had good parts and we got some pretty fortuitous bounces,” said Jr. Senators Head Coach Kyle Makaric. “We got away from our details a little bit but managed to stay above the puck. The second was probably our best when we had the puck for probably the entire 20 minutes. There were some positive things to take away, but ultimately some things we need to tighten up.”
The Bears were able to get a couple back in the third period on the man advantage to make things interesting before the Jr. Senators replied with goals from Thomas Freel and the second on the evening from both Bodie Nobes and another shorthanded goal from Philippe Jacques.
In the game, the Jr. Senators added two more goals shorthanded, to bring their lead league to six.
“It’s always nice to chip in with goals in those types of situations,” added Makaric. “Of course the first one from Mosko (Edward Moskowitz) is the bounce off the end boards… it’s just how hockey happens. We’re aggressive when killing penalties and any chance we get to go up ice their instincts take over to make skillful plays like that.”
Felix Schnell made 24 stops for his fifth win of the season, while Bears starter Victor Dejardins turned aside 26 of 42 before being replaced in the third by Andrew Yost who stopped five of six.
The Jr. Senators went 2-for-4 on the man advantage while the Bears went 2-for-6.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators return to the ice on Wednesday as they return home to take on the Rockland Nationals with puck drop scheduled for 7:20 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.
