The Ottawa Jr. Senators went 2-1 last week with a pair of wins against Navan and Brockville at home. Their only loss came against Nepean on the road.
Ottawa 2, Navan 1 (November 6th)
Before the game began, there was a moment of silence as both teams mourned the loss of Navan Grads Owner and CCHL Chairman Steve Barban. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Barban family and friends during these difficult times. Ottawa announced they will wear Barban’s initials on their jerseys for the remainder of the season in a show of solidarity.
On Wednesday night, Ottawa picked up their first victory against Navan since December 11, 2022, with a 2-0 victory. The Jr. Sens played an outstanding first two periods before holding off Navan in the third thanks in part to a strong goaltending performance by Josh Scully who made 39 saves on 40 shots in the win.
After a scoreless first period, Ethan Lobe drove wide against Navan’s defense on the right wing and was able to beat Navan goaltender Tomas Gagne under the right pad for his second of the season.
Leo St-Michel scored his fourth of the season on a nice passing play between him, Lucas Bremshey and Gabriel Pelchat in the third. Navan clawed their way back into the game when Cole Jenken sniped it bar down on Scully to cut the deficit to one. Ultimately, they could not finish the comeback.
Charles Poudrette and Antoine Poirier registered an assist each during the win.
Ottawa 6, Brockville 3 (November 9th)
Ottawa picked up their third win in a row by taking down the Braves on Saturday. The win meant the team had seven points in their last four games.
The win was the Jr Senators’ first against Brockville this season. The previous two meetings resulted in a pair of ugly loses. Ottawa surrendered the first goal of the game from Kimani Eccleston, but it wouldn’t take long for them to respond. Xavier Guillemette scored his sixth goal of the season to tie the game just 32 seconds later. He ended up with three points on the night. Before the end of the period Gabe Pelchat scored on the power play to give Ottawa the lead heading into the second.
In the second, Max Treppo tied the game for Brockville 2-2 on a shot from the slot. The biggest opportunity of the game was on a nine-minute power play for Ottawa with 3:20 to go in the second. Brockville defenseman Owen Traynor got 5 minutes for fighting with two minutes added each for being the instigator and aggressor.
Jack Matsukubo gave Ottawa the lead for the second time with a one-timer from the high point, off a nice pass from Matt Mazzotta. This was the only goal they scored on the extended power play.
Eccleston gave Brockville hope by tying the game with 8:10 left in regulation. However, Ottawa responded quickly for a second time with Matsukubo picking up his second goal in the game.
Tristian Poor would put the game away with an empty net goal with 1:02 left in the game. Tomislav Brennan added salt to the wound by snapping a seven-game scoreless drought by betting his seventh of the year on a nice pass from Guillemette off a 2-on-1. Matsukubo (2G/2A), Brennan (1G/2A) and Guillemette (1G/2A) combined for 10 points as a line.
Noah Paddock got his second win in as many starts by making 32 saves while Brockville netminder Trey Caracciolo made 27 saves on 32 shots.
Nepean 3, Ottawa 1 (November 10th)
The game came down to one goal in the third period and Ottawa was on the wrong side despite playing tremendously in Mark Grady’s second game behind the bench.
The two teams traded goals on the man advantage to start things off with Luka Benoit collecting his 12th goal off two shots toward the net. For Ottawa, Tristian Poor got the game deadlocked at one after a nice pass playing with Pelchat and Bremshey. Poor now has goals in back-to-back games.
The Jr Sens had their opportunities in the second period, where they outshot the Raiders 17-7 but goaltender John Gedraitis kept Nepean in the game.
Dylan Pollock gave the Raiders the lead with 4:01 left in regulation off a nice pass from Nick Houben and then Tyler Smith add a tally with a second left to put it away.
Josh Scully made 33 saves in the loss as Ottawa outshot Nepean 38-35. Both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play.
————————————————————————