A weekend and midweek showdown for the Jr Sens in the last few days finally gave us an idea of what this team can do this season. With the ever-so-important CCHL showcase right around the corner, the Jr Sens split the week with a 1-1 record in two games that easily could’ve gone the opposite way.
Ottawa: 1 Kemptville: 0 (OT)
Saturday night, in their home opener at Jim Durrell Sports Complex, OJS took the number eight nationally ranked team, the Kemptville 73s, to overtime after three scoreless periods thanks to a respectable 18-save performance from 73s goalie Jacob Turpin and an even more impressive one from OJS goalie John Reburn, stopping all 32 shots he faced.
The deadlock was finally broken when sophomore defenceman Evan Graham, in the first 30 seconds of overtime, skated the puck into the offensive zone and handed it off to his captain, Deklyn Campbell. With the Kemptville defence seemingly having forgotten about Graham, he made his way to the front of the net, quickly receiving the puck back from Campbell and placing a quick wrist shot past a sprawling Turpin to end the OT period as quickly as it began.
It was a beatifully drawn up play in what was otherwise a calm game for the Ottawa offence.
Ottawa: 3 Navan: 4
Four days later, the Jr Sens were back on home ice to take on another intimidating team in the Navan Grads. Before the game, the top three in CCHL scoring were all grads. (Owen Knight, Braydon Lindsay, and Matthew D’Urso with 10 points in five games apiece.) OJS looked confident after taking a 2-0 lead early in the second period thanks to an Ethan Egelski goal accompanied by a highlight-reel assist from David Deschatelets and a Brody Molloy powerplay tip-in. Each, their first goal in the CCHL.
However, the tide quickly changed after a strange bounce off the stanchion made the puck land directly in front of Knight, gifting him a wide-open net and his seventh goal of the season. Ten minutes of play later, Navan forward Henri Packalen found himself in the slot with the puck on his stick but whiffed on his shot. With Reburn already committed to the shot, he found himself sliding to his right while the puck slowly drifted the opposite way, right onto the stick of Lindsay, who tied the game up 2-2 to end the second period.
Two top-left snipes in the third were too much to take on for a lone Cédrick St-Pierre goal off a rebound from a point shot from rookie defenceman Jacob Laplante, and the comeback was completed for the Grads in a 4-3 loss for OJS.
The Jr Sens, as well as the rest of the CCHL, now prepare for the weekend-long showcase where every team will play two games in two days at the Nepean Sportsplex with many scouts in the stands from collegiate or major junior teams. It’s also a nice opportunity for junior hockey fans to attend six games for the price of one!
