Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Jr. Senators (6-1-0) began the 2021 CCHL Showcase weekend with wins over the Cornwall Colts and Kemptville 73’s, before suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of the Renfrew Wolves on Monday.
Saturday – Ottawa 6, Cornwall 2
David Mabey opened the scoring 8:49 into the opening period. Philippe Jacques picked up the lone assist. The Jr. Senators traded powerplay goals with the Colts before the end of the first period. Jacques scored for Ottawa, and Jake Coleman responded for Cornwall, sending Ottawa to the break with a 2-1 lead.
Ottawa extended their lead in the second period with Sam Edwards’ first goal of the season, and Edward Moskowitz third. Mabey collected assists on each second-period goal, giving him his first career CCHL 3-point game.
Ottawa’s special teams continued to perform well in the third period. Massimo Gentile scored a shorthanded goal 31 seconds into the frame. Cornwall would cut the deficit to three, with Jonathan Heise’s first of the season. Ottawa would regain their four-goal lead on the powerplay with Jacques sixth goal of the season, five of them coming on the man advantage.
Ottawa went 2-for-4 on the powerplay in Saturday’s game, while scoring once, and surrendering one goal on five Cornwall powerplays.
Felix Schnell made 25 of 27 saves, improving his record to 3-0 on the season.
Sunday – Ottawa 3, Kemptville 2
Ottawa picked up their sixth consecutive win to start the season with a 3-2 win over Kemptville on Sunday.
Ottawa responded with Julian Recine scoring on the powerplay 42 seconds into the second period. Mabey scored his second goal in as many nights, giving Ottawa their first lead of the game at the 3:15 mark.
Kemptville evened the score as Johnny Howie scored on a breakaway seconds after his penalty expired. Simon Isabelle regained the lead for Ottawa with a wraparound goal just after the midway point of the second period. Thomas Freel and Julian Recine both collected assists on the goal, extending all three players 6-game point streaks to start the season.
No goals were scored in the third period, which resulted in Isabelle’s goal being the game-winner.
William Desmarais made 32 saves in the win.
This is the first time Ottawa has started 6-0 since the 2015-16 season.
Monday – Renfrew 4, Ottawa 1
Ottawa dropped their first game against the Wolves franchise on Monday, by a score of 4-1.
Preston Brighton opened the scoring 1:20 into the hockey game, giving the Wolves a 1-0 lead. Recine responded 23-seconds later for Ottawa, evening the score. Charlie Johnson scored his fourth goal of the season at the 14-minute mark, regaining the lead for the Wolves.
Ottawa would eventually surrender three unanswered goals, as Mathieu Parent doubled the Wolves lead with his fourth of the season at 17:13 of the second period.
Brighton scored his second goal of the game 1:35 into the third period, extending the Wolves’ lead to 4-1. That ended up being the final score.
With Recine and Freel connecting on the Jr. Senators’ lone goal, they each extended their point streak to seven games. Isabelle failed to register a point on Monday, ending his streak at six games.
Both teams went scoreless on the man advantage, with Ottawa going 0-for-3 and Renfrew going 0-for-4.
Desmarais suffered the loss playing on back-to-back nights. He made 32 of 36 saves bringing his record to 3-1-0 on the season, with a .932 save percentage and 2.00 GAA.
Ottawa still sits at the top of the Yzerman Division standings with 12 points in 7 games.
The next game for the Ottawa Jr. Senators will be on Friday night when they travel to Rockland to take on the 1-5-1 Nationals. It will be the first meeting between the two teams this season. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm with all the action on mixlr.com/ojsradio and on Hockey TV.
