By: Mason Detre
Ottawa, Ontario – The Ottawa Jr. Senators (24-20-2) defeated the Brockville Braves (30-9-6),4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday night. The Shootout went to 15 rounds with Tucker McIntosh keeping the game alive after Colin Stacey scored in the 6th, and then Max Bush was able to end it in the 15th round.
“Shootout went way too long. The goaltending, Bourdeau in their end and Landsy (Bryan Landsberger) at our end made it difficult for the shooters. Obviously, you get that late into the 3rd period, then into overtime and then 15 shooters. The ice is really bad, it’s really tough to execute your go-to moves. I’ve never been a part of a shootout that long, it was unbelievable,” said OJS Assistant Coach Jamie Mayo.
It’s the longest shootout this season in the CCHL, but the longest shootout in CCHL history came on March 10th, 2013 when Ottawa and Kemptville needed 25 rounds to decide a winner. Jonathan Cyr for Kemptville eventually got the shootout winner on the final game of the regular season.
During the second period, David Bérubé was able to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead. It was the Jr. Sens second lead of the game after they were leading in the first but would allow a goal 1:01 later. Bérubé ended the night with 1G / 1A to extend his point streak to two games.
Brockville would score two unanswered goals to grab the lead once again going to the third. Mayo commented on Bérubé’s night.
“David was good, but I didn’t like the penalty he took and then Brockville would score on the power play. The slash was kinda away from the play, but he was going tonight, carrying the puck dictating the tempo and paste. It seems every time that when he was on the ice, he was creating something offensively.”
Michael Eftimovski extended his point streak to four games off a goal from Tucker McIntosh back in the first period, who also had 1G / 1A. Eftimovski has four assists in his last four games.
“He’s getting better and better each game. He is listening to what Ben (Reinhardt) has to say and using that advice to improve his game. It’s going to be important come playoff time, he’s going to have to play minutes against teams top line when we’re on the road, so Eftimovski has been really good and we’re really pleased of his development,” said Mayo.
Ottawa was able to get off to a great start in the third period by generating great opportunities in the Brockville end but wasn’t able to capitalize 5-on-5. When Ottawa pulled Bryan Landsberger for a 6-on-5, Ottawa was able to capitalize. Maxime Blanchard‘s blast from the point went through traffic and was able to beat Antoine Bourdeau over the left pad to tie the game.
“Ultimately it was Ben Reinhardt, that drew it up. Ben runs our power play and drew something up and Blanch (Maxime Blanchard) got the puck through from the point, we had good front presences and ended up in the back of the night,” said Mayo.
The game would need OT was it was intense. With, around 3 minutes left in overtime, Josh Barnes shot the puck off the post and then Ottawa thought that Josh Shimizu scored his first in a Jr. Sens uniform but Antoine Bourdeau did keep the puck out and OT would continue.
In the final seconds of overtime, Conor Smart would hit his second post of the game off a shot from the right faceoff circle, but then Brockville had a 3-on-1 with eight seconds left. Josh Spratt passes to the left side Austin Paul, who had the game on his stick and would ring it off the post. A lot of shots came off the post during the third, overtime and including shootouts.
“Absolutely, I have forgotten about that. There were able two or three posts in overtime, there was a post in the third period, posts in a shootout. Guys were just missing on their shots a little bit but certainly, a goaltender’s best friend is the post and we heard a lot of it tonight,” said Mayo.
After McIntosh scored to keep the shootout going, Max Bush would score the shootout winner.
“I was just coming down, trying to get the goalie to move and trying to open up some net. I saw a little net over the pad and just took my shot. Luckily it went in and got the guys the two points,” said OJS Forward Max Bush.
The Jr. Senators outshot Brockville 37-24 overall. Bryan Landsberger made 21 saves for his 10th win of the season but stopped 14 of 15 shooters in the shootout.
Next game for the Ottawa Jr. Senators goes tonight inside the CIHA Arena where Ottawa is still in search of their first win against Rockland this season. You can catch all the action on mixlr.com/ojsradio with Josh Primeau.
