Photo/Article: Dante De Caria
Ottawa, Ontario – The Ottawa Jr. Senators (28-12-2) drop their first game of 2019 after 3-2 loss to the Brockville Braves (30-9-2) on Wednesday night at the Jim Durrell Sports Complex.
Fred Allaire scored the game-winning-goal for the Braves midway through the third period. Christophe Cote drove the net and Allaire found the puck in the crease and put it in for his 20th.
The Jr. Senators had a one goal lead twice in this game. Ottawa’s second lead was broken up 20 seconds into the second period after Justin McRae scored on a two-on-one to tie things up (2-2).
Head Coach Martin Dagenais say’s their brain cramps lost them the game.
“I don’t know if we played a full 60 minutes. We had some brain cramps here and there, and I think we gave them the three goals.”
The Ottawa Jr. Senators were out-shot 26-25 and were out-shot for just the 11th time this season, falling to 5-6 when having fewer shots than their opponent.
Ottawa out-shot Brockville 9-3 during their attempted comeback in the third period. Dagenais said it’s tough to say why they haven’t been able to comeback in games this season.
“It’s tough to comeback when you play with the lead a lot but I thought today we had six or seven shots in the last two minutes, so we had our chances.”
Owen Cole scored twice for his fourth career multi-goal game. He now has 19-goals and is one point away from 50 this season.
“He play’s hard and he doesn’t cheat,” said Dagenais on why Cole was so successful in the loss. “I didn’t think Owen (Cole) was good against Kemptville last night (Tuesday) and I told him that, and I thought tonight he stepped up. He’s a character kid who want’s to win and he know’s what he takes to win.”
Ottawa falls to 3-1 against Brockville (11 GF / 11 GA), with the final meeting set for next Friday (January 25th) at the Brockville Memorial Center.
The Jr. Sens now fall to 3-1 in the second half while the Braves improve to 6-0 since the break. Ottawa is back in action on Saturday when they host the first place Hawkesbury Hawks.
