Ottawa defeats Rockland in overtime, 3-2 on Friday

Ottawa, Ontario – Elie Boulerice gave the Ottawa Jr. Senators (3-4) a 3-2 overtime win over the Rockland Nationals (4-4-1) at the CIHA Arena on Friday night.

After Ottawa and Rockland each exchanged a pair of goals in the first period, the game remained scoreless until overtime.

Elie Boulerice scored the overtime winner, cycling the puck behind the net before making his way to the circle and firing wrist-shot top corner.

Head Coach Martin Dagenais says that it was Ottawa’s best game since September, 1st when the Jr. Senators lost to the Carleton Place Canadians, 3-1.

“We had energy, we were physical, we were hard on pucks. We still have a long way to go but we’re slowly improving as a team, which is good news because we have a lot of new guys.”

Elie Boulerice was the games first star after he scored two goals and tallied one assist. He has now scored five goals in his first seven games.

“Overall I thought he had a great game,” said Dagenais. He plays the right way, he’s not flashy and he always scores big goals for us.”

To go along with Boulerice’s three-point night, Darcy Walsh was the second star after he had  goal and two apples.

Head Coach Martin Dagenais praised his first line of Jackson, Boulerice and Walsh after they were on the ice for all of Ottawa’s goals on Friday.

“I thought they had some big moments but overall, they were very good as a line.”

After scoring all of their goals on the power-play, Ottawa has not scored a five-on-five goal since September the 12th against the Pembroke Lumber Kings. That’s a span of two games after OJS scored two power-play goals against Nepean in their previous game.

“Five-on-five, defensively, we are very good but we need to generate  offence because right now its a bit of a concern.”

Despite not generating a lot of offense on even strength, their recent success on the man advantage is a plus.

“I gotta give credit to my power-play guys, Chris Kushneriuk  and Ryan Garlock for working with the guys all week long. We told the guys to take some shots and sometimes we’re looking for the perfect play but we move the puck quickly and take good shots.”

The Jr. Senators and Nationals combined for 61 minutes in penalties and out-shot Rockland 28-21 in the win.

Ottawa’s next game is Thursday, September 27th when they take on the Colts at the Ed Lumley Arena in Cornwall, Ontario.

Recap by: Dante De Caria.