By Matt Wilson
Ottawa, Ontario – The Ottawa Jr. Senators ended the month of January and started the month of February both on high notes as they defeated the Cornwall Colts 5-1 and Hawkesbury Hawks 4-1 respectively this past week.
Ottawa 5, Cornwall 1
On Thursday night the Jr. Sens made their last trip down to Cornwall in the regular season and defeated the Colts 5-1 thanks in large part to a three goal 3rd period.
Mark MacPhee and Tucker McIntosh opened the scoring for Ottawa in the first only 14 seconds apart to give OJS an early 2-0 advantage, a lead that would carry over into the 2nd period, where Ottawa would commit 5 minor penalties and allow Emerick Nadeau to score and get the Colts within one. Cornwall out-shot the Jr. Senators 15-3 in the period.
Third period goals from Blanchard, White and Bush though would seal the deal for Ottawa and allow them to come home with the two points.
Ottawa 4, Hawkesbury 1
Saturday night brought the Hawksbury Hawks into the Jim Durrell Sports Complex for the fifth of six match ups between the two teams this season and OJS came away with another big 4-1 victory.
Curtis Fabbro notched his 1st of the game and his 1st as a Jr. Senator to open the scoring early. OJS AP Costa Touliopoulos collected his first CCHL assist on the play. Chris Piche then took advantage of a bad turnover by Hawks net minder Mathieu Chenier to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead headed into the first intermission.
Ethan Grant, the former Cornwall Colt scored only 34 seconds into the 2nd period to give the Hawks some life, but the story of the second period was penalties. Both teams combined for twelve different minor penalties and lots of post whistle scrums. Acting Head Coach Jamie Mayo wasn’t sure why there was so much action after the whistle.
“I really don’t know,”said Mayo. “It’s just one of those things when guys get chirping on the ice, it leads to a lot of post whistle scrums.”
Conor Smart opened the scoring in the 3rd period with his 12th goal of the season on the power play, meanwhile Curtis Fabbro was able to seal the deal with an empty net marker for his 2nd goal of the night.
“It feels great,” said Fabbro on scoring his first two goals as a Jr. Senator. “Being able to get the monkey off my back and get back on the score sheet is huge for me.”
Next game for Ottawa is on Wednesday night as OJS will welcome the Kemptville 73’s into the Jim Durrell Sports Complex for a 7:20 pm start, then on Sunday the Jr. Senators make the short trip over to Nepean to take on the Raiders from the Steve Yzerman Arena for a 2:30 pm start. Both games will be available on mixlr.com/ojsradio and Hockey TV!
