Ottawa 4 – Nepean 1
In the first half of a back-to-back against the Nepean Raiders, the Ottawa Junior Senators showed some resilience and put up a dominant performance at home Saturday night to record a 4-1 win.
“We played better early in the game than later,” said Jr Sens head coach Mark Grady, “but I’m happy with the way the team came together in the third, killing those penalties.”
The Jr Sens came into the game with a must-win mentality after a disappointing loss to the Navan Grads last week. With two games on the docket this weekend, the team felt like they needed momentum on their side.
Simply put, “We need [to win] this one,” said assistant coach Bob Gould before the game.
Despite the two teams exchanging powerplays the game was scoreless until Caleb Mead drove around a trio of defenders and tucked it in short side on Nepean goaltender, Otsirakatste Brant, to give OJS a 1-0 lead.
About five minutes later, forward Dax Kenney capitalized on Brant’s mishandling of the puck behind his own goal to send it to fellow rookie, Kairui Gardner, who tucked it into the open net for his first goal in his first CCHL game.
“You’ll get used to saying my name more often,” said the confident 16-year-old to the broadcast team after the game.
In the second period, the intensity went up a notch as both teams put up a combined 42 penalty minutes, the majority of which went against the Raiders. With seven seconds left in the period, second-year defender Antoine Poirier fired a rocket of a shot top corner to put Ottawa ahead by three. In doing so, he registered the Jr Senators’ first powerplay goal of the season and simultaneously matched his career high in goals for a single season.
The Raiders followed up a clearly frustrating second period with a much more level-headed approach in the third. Nepean’s lone goal came courtesy of Tyler Smith, who picked up his second goal of the season, thanks to a tricky slot shot on the powerplay. Despite the defeat, the Raiders’ faithful can take solace in the fact that the team’s fourth-ranked powerplay continued to click during the game.
After the goal, the Raiders pushed the pace, forcing Ottawa into a defensive stand. Midway through the period Nepean found itself on a 5-on-3 powerplay with an opportunity to claw its way back into the game. With the game on the line, the Jr Senators rose to the occasion to kill off the penalties, thanks in no small part to a couple of big saves by goaltender Josh Scully. Clément Valette iced the game with two minutes left on the clock, calmly settling the puck at centre ice before burying it into the empty net. Scully registered a secondary assist on the play, giving him the first point of his CCHL career.
Tomorrow afternoon, at 2:30, the Jr Sens will be at Nepean Sportsplex for a rematch of tonight’s game.
