Ottawa, ON – It took into the early minutes to determine the CCHL semi-final match-ups on Saturday morning, but the puck dropped on the second round over 17 hours later, with the visiting Renfrew Wolves using a quick start to sink the Ottawa Jr. Senators in Game 1.
It took all of 2:20 for Noah Vom Scheidt to open the scoring, for the Kanata native’s sixth point in as many games.
The Wolves nearly had a second as Elvis Slack was sprung in all alone moments after the ensuing draw, but William Desmarais stood tall for the pad save.
The slow start for OJS weighed in later in the period, where a neutral zone faceoff ended up back at the Jr. Senators blueline, for Joey Kennelly to pick off an Isaac Landry pass to head in on a 3-on-2 rush. After Demarias made the first stop, the puck found Mason Goldie at the left circle, who made no mistake.
In the second, OJS bounced back, peppering Will Craig with 22 shots, and were hungry for the equalizer.
At the halfway point of the second frame, Jakob Kalin entered the OJS zone on a 1-on-1, where Connor Garcia entered the equation by driving the net and redirecting home the third consecutive Wolves goal to put the game out of reach.
As OJS looked for an answer, they got on the board 1:45 into the third, where Julian Recine fired home a powerplay goal to get one back, but ultimately wasn’t enough as the Jr. Senators’ comeback fell short.
William Desmarais stopped 22 in the loss, while Wolves starter Will Craig was spectacular, making 43 stops.
The Jr. Senators went 1-for-2 on the man advantage while the Wolves went 0-for-2.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators look to bounce back in Game 2 of their semi-final matchup tonight at 6:00 from the Ma-Te-Way Activity Centre. Catch all the action with Mason Detre and Davide Disipio on the Jr. Senators Broadcast Network at Mixlr.com/OJSradio and on Hockey TV.
