Ben White had the magic goal for the Napanee Raiders on Friday night, scoring the home team’s first of the game to prompt a shower of stuffed animals from the stands.
His goal was crucial in that not only did it lead to bags full of donated toys for the less fortunate this holiday season, but it also helped the Raiders to a 5-3 win over the Amherstview Jets during Napanee’s annual teddy bear toss game at the SPC.
Raiders collect toys following the first goal of the game. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
White’s power-play goal helped the Raiders erase an early 1-0 deficit and was the start of three unanswered goals for Napanee to close out the first period. Nolan Stevenson had given the Jets an early lead four minutes into the game before White responded at 6:32, followed by Nicholas Goosney just under two minutes later to put the Raiders ahead for good. Reid Lambert tacked on another with a short-handed goal at the 14:46 mark.
Amherstview’s Cole McEwen dives in an attempt to break up a scoring attempt by Napanee’s Beckett Palmer-Stephen. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Stevenson had his second of the game 12:12 into the second, which was quickly offset by Cameron Krupa to restore Napanee’s two-goal lead. Krupa added another late in the third before Payton Clarke got one back for the Jets in the final two minutes to cut the deficit to 5-3. That was as close as they’d get before the final buzzer sounded.
Bailey Maracle earned the win with 19 saves while Amherstview’s Alex Chu took the loss, facing 32 shots on the night.
The win improves Napanee to 19-2 on the year, stretching the lead to nine points over the second place Jets, who fall to 14-8-1 (38 points to 29).
Napanee is back in action tomorrow night when they travel to Port Hope. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.
Prior to the game the Raiders announced they would be paying tribute to the late Jane Hart, long time team volunteer and wife of former team president Morris Hart, by wearing stickers that read ‘Jane’ on the back of their helmets for the remainder of the season. She passed away Thursday at the age of 77.