Adam Prudhomme
Editor
A hat trick from Ben Carter on Friday night followed by a two-goal effort from Nicholas Goosney on Sunday night paced the Napanee Raiders to a pair of wins this weekend, marking a perfect 10-0 start to the season.
Goosney’s two goals led the way in Sunday’s 7-2 road win over the Amherstview Jets while Carter’s hat trick powered Napanee to a 7-3 win over the visiting Campbellford Rebels on Friday.
Though Sunday’s game ended with the Raiders sporting a healthy five-goal advantage, the outcome was very much up in the air at the midway point of the third period. Napanee had built a 3-0 lead on the strength of first period goals from Ben Chubbs and Cameron Krupa, followed by a tally from Ben White exactly halfway through the second. The Jets were able to chip away as Brayden Robinson got the home team on the board at 12:46 of the second while Josh Kudo scored a power-play goal early in the third to cut the Raider lead down to just 3-2.
The Raiders found another gear however, rattling off four unanswered goals in a span of 12 minutes to put the game out of reach. Christos Chronis scored on the power-play just three minutes after Kudo to allow the Raiders to regain the momentum. Ryan Kidd tacked on another at 10:44 before Goosney notched a pair to close out the game, his first coming while his team was short-handed and the Jets utilizing an extra attacker in an attempt to claw their way back into the game.
Bailey Maracle picked up the win for Napanee, facing 41 shots on the night. That was actually 10 more than his counterpart Tommy Rollin faced, who had 25 saves on 31 shots. Napanee was 2-for-3 on the power-play while the Jets were 1-for-4.
Friday night against Campbellford the Raiders found themselves in a rare position-actually trailing an opponent.
The Rebels struck first when Owen Brocanier scored 14:23 into the game. That seemed to wake up the Raider offense as Carter scored twice in a span of 16 seconds followed less than two minutes later by teammate Blake Aylesworth to give Napanee a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Brocanier got the Rebels off to a fast start in the second, potting a goal just 58 seconds into the frame. Napanee was quick to respond again as Soren Zamuner replied 38 seconds later with a strike of his own.
The game’s next four goals were all scored by a Ben-Napanee’s Chubbs, Carter and White while Campbellford’s Hansen responded for the visitors. The net result was a 7-3 lead heading into the final break. Neither side would add to the scoring over the final 20 minutes.
Alex Zamuner earned the win for Napanee with 19 saves on 22 shots. Noah Barker took the loss, stopping 48 of 55.
Both teams went empty-handed on two power-plays.
Napanee will have a rare Friday off with no home games this week. Their lone action will see them travel to Campbellford for a rematch with the Rebels on Saturday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
They’ll return home on Oct. 28 when they welcome in the Picton Pirates for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
Napanee’s 10-0 record has them leading the pack in the East Todd Division; eight points up on the 6-4 Jets. The Pirates are third at 4-2 (eight points), the Frankford Huskies fourth at 1-7 (two), the Port Hope Panthers fifth at 0-3-1 (one) and the sixth place Rebels still looking for a win at 0-4, with six games in hand.