By: Dante De Caria
Ottawa, Ontario – The fifth place Ottawa Jr. Senators (29-12-2) defeated the second place Hawkesbury Hawks (30-11-4) 5-1 on Saturday night at the Jim Durrell Sports Complex.
Geoff Dempster (1G/1A), Darcy Walsh (1G/1A), Owen Cole (1G/1A) and Elie Boulerice (2A) each had multi-point game’s in the win.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators (60) now trail Hawkesbury (64) by four point’s in the CCHL standings. Ottawa now takes a 3-1 season series lead, having outscored them 16-to-8 with two more meetings left to play this season. The Jr. Sens also improve to 45-22 against the Hawks since the 2006 season.
With Ottawa up 3-1 midway through the third period, Head Coach Martin Dagenais called a timeout before OJS went to a 5-on-3 power-play and it payed off. Cole fed Dempster a clean pass on the side of the net, and he tapped it in to give the Jr. Sens a 4-1 lead.
“It was good because we got to discuss what we were going to do,” said Dempster on their timeout. “We said that if he one-timer up top from Noah (Rowe) didn’t work that me and Walsh would switch. Cole ended up feeding me nice pass down low and I was able to get it in.”
The goal is Dempster’s 16th this season, setting a new career high for goals scored in a campaign. His previous high was 15 in the 2016-17 season with the Nepean Raiders.
Darcy Walsh scored his 25th, tying him with Pembroke Lumber Kings forward Connor Warnholtz for the CCHL league lead in goals. Owen Cole scored his 20th, becoming just the 10th player in the CCHL to hit the 20 goal plateau. With two points on the night, he is now third in league scoring with 51 points.
Ottawa Jr. Senators Head Coach Martin Dagenais say’s that it was probably their best game of the season.
“Hawkesbury didn’t bring their best effort but at the same time I think our guy’s out worked them in every zone tonight. We were really good and if we could find a way to play like this all the time then we would be a tough opponent for any team in our league.”
Ottawa outshot Hawkesbury 14-3 in the first and 43-19 overall, improving to 23-6-2 when registering more shots than their opponent in a game. The Jr. Senators shot differential moves up to +315 this season.
Ottawa is now 4-1 since the start of the second half while Hawkesbury falls to 3-2-2 since the break. They’ve now dropped four straight games (0-2-2) with losses to Ottawa, Rockland, Carleton Place and Brockville.
The Jr. Senators are back in action against the Nepean Raiders on Sunday January 20th at the Steve Yzerman Arena. Puck drop is at 2:30.
