By: Dante De Caria
Ottawa, Ontario – The Ottawa Jr. Senators defeated the Kanata Lasers 3-0 in game one of their quarterfinal on Sunday afternoon at the Jim Durrell Sports Complex.
The Jr. Senators improve to 13-1 in game one’s over the last five years under Head Coach Martin Dagenais.
Andrew Remer opened the scoring just 44-seconds into the second frame. With the puck on his backhand, he turned around and beat Lasers’ goalie Gabriel Carriere below the right pad. Head Coach Martin Dagenais says that Remer’s goal was huge.
“After that goal we got some prime scoring chances. He sent the puck to the net and I thought he deserved it because he worked his butt off.”
After Owen Cole made it 2-0 early in the third, Conor Smart showed off his speed in the attacking zone, driving wide on the Kanata defense and tucking a backhander underneath the pad of Carriere.
“He’s got wheels and he’s got good hands and he went to the net hard. Sometimes he has the tendency to settle and go behind the net but on that one he decided cut to the net, even though the angle wasn’t great. When you go to the net hard, good things happen,” said Dagenais on Smart’s third goal in his last two games.
Francis Boisvert made his first career playoff start, and made 18-saves for the shutout. Owen Cole and Andrew Remer finished the game with 1G/1A.
Dagenais thought Ottawa was shaky early on, but got better as the game grew older.
“Nerves were apart of it and we got going in the second-half. I thought we were exceptional in the second but just missed a lot of good scoring chances. Boisvert made some big saves early on, we contained their top line and played well in the defensive zone. We were physical and it paid off in the end.”
Game two of the Jr. Senators best of seven Quarterfinal against the Kanata Lasers will continue on Wednesday March 20th at 7:20 inside the Jim Durrell Sports Complex. You can catch the broadcast on CKDJ 107.9, mixlr.com/ojsradio and Hockey TV.
