Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Battling right down to the wire in Tuesday’s KASSAA semifinal at the Invista Centre, the NDSS Golden Hawks boys hockey team just couldn’t muster the tying goal, falling 3-1 to the Holy Cross Crusaders.
The game was a lot closer than the final may indicate, as the Crusaders held a 2-1 lead until the final two minutes, tacking on a late goal to punch their ticket to the KASSAA finals.
Getting off to a slow start, the Hawks played almost the entire first period in their own end while the Crusaders dominated the time on attack. Hawks goalie Corbin Votary stood tall, making several acrobatic saves to keep it scoreless after one.
The Crusaders finally broke through early in the second, scoring short-handed after an unsuccessful Hawks rush to the Crusader net.
Down but not out, the Hawks responded a few minutes later when Corbin Gibson tipped a shot in front of the net, redirecting past the Crusaders’ goalie and into the back of the net. Kyle Garrett and Kyle Weese picked up assists on the play, igniting the Hawks bench in the process. Napanee seemed to feed off the energy of the goal and kept up a steady attack, but couldn’t find the go ahead goal.
The Crusaders weathered the storm and took the wind out of Napanee’s sails with a late goal in the final two minutes to go up 2-1 heading into the final intermission.
Despite a few good scoring chances, the Hawks weren’t able to notch the important equalizer.
They saw all hope of a comeback dashed when the Crusaders piled on an insurance marker in the final two minutes.
The loss ended the Hawks’ bid to go from underdog to KASSAA champions. Napanee had knocked off Frontenac 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday in the quarter-finals to earn a date with the second ranked Crusaders with a trip to the finals on the line.
Napanee ended the regular season with a 2-4 record, giving them the fifth seed to enter the playoffs.
“Those boys played well today.” said Hawks head coach Jeff Birchard. “Corbin Votary played very well. We had two real good goalies with Corbin and Ryan (Aldridge). Both are Grade 9s too so we can see them for a few years.”
NDSS’ girls team meanwhile were successful in their KASSAA semifinal showdown, topping the La Salle Black Knights 3-2 at home on Thursday. They opened the playoffs with a convincing 9-3 win over Bayridge in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
NDSS will now face off against the Holy Cross Crusaders this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at the Invista Centre for the KASSAA league title and a trip to OFSAA on the line.
Napanee finished the regular season in first with an unbeaten 7-0-1 record. The Crusaders were third at 5-2-1.
The Golden Hawks won their lone regular season meeting with Holy Cross 1-0 back on Feb. 5.