Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Orr Division foes provided some tough competition for the Napanee Raiders this weekend, who dropped a 6-3 game on the road to the North Kawartha Knights before squeaking out a 2-1 victory at home Sunday against the Uxbridge Bruins.
“We were real happy to see the bounce back,” Raiders head coach Mike Hartwick said following Sunday’s win. “We didn’t compete well (Saturday) so we didn’t get two points. (Sunday) I thought we had a lot more jump and a lot more compete. Especially early I thought we executed quite well.”
The two games were the polar opposite of the previous week’s games for the Raiders, who breezed to lopsided wins in the opening week.
Sunday’s game was a goalie’s duel, with Napanee’s Bailey Maracle and Uxbridge’s Ryan McConkey trading zeros through the first two periods.
The Raiders’ Austin Labelle broke the shutout at the 2:40 mark of the third, scoring from the dot after a face-off win to the left of McConkey, with help from Reid Humphrey.
The celebration was short lived however as Cole Bremner responded for the visitors just under a minute later.
Both teams continued to trade chances until Labelle potted his second of the night on a one-timer at the side of the net with just under seven minutes to go. Humphrey again earned an assist, as did Sebastian Kilcommons. Maracle made that goal stand up as the game winner, finishing the night with 19 saves. McConkey finished with 28 saves in the tough luck loss.
“We had a lot of chances early on,” said Hartwick. “Their goalie played well. They’re a physical hockey team. We knew what they were going to do. It was a good hockey game.”
Referees were kept busy in the game as Uxbridge racked up 66 minutes of penalty time while Napanee collected 46 minutes. Neither team could convert on their power-play advantages however, both going 0-9.
Saturday’s contest in North Kawartha was a stark contrast to Sunday’s as the Knights and Raiders combined to score six times in the opening 10 minutes.
The Knights had four of those goals, building a lead they’d never relinquish. Napanee’s Luke Joseph opened the scoring just 23 seconds into the game but was quickly offset by goals from Kawartha’s Nolan Flood and Matthew Wilbee. Evan Foley knotted the game at 2-2 at the 4:30 mark, only to see the Knights’ strike again for two goals in a span of 43 seconds.
North Kawartha’s third goal was enough to chase Nicholas Nabuurs from the net after allowing three goals on nine shots. Maracle finished the game, stopping 17 of 20.
Labelle scored early in the second to cut the Raiders’ deficit to 4-3, but that’s as close as they’d get. The Knights tacked on two more to seal the win.
Napanee was 0-2 on the power-play while the Knights converted on two of their four chances. Despite the goal difference, Napanee outshot the home team 30-29 on the night.
“It was a good lesson for us,” Hartwick said of the loss. “We didn’t show up to play. Give North Kawartha credit, they came out and played hard. It was a good lesson for us that we can’t just show up, we actually have to execute.”
This weekend’s games marked the first time the Raiders had ventured out of their own division this year as part of the PJHL’s new crossover format. Each Tod Division team will visit and host each Orr Division team throughout the regular season. The winners of each league will also square off in the first round of the Schmalz Cup playoffs in March.
“It’s good for the league, good for our hockey team and good for our fans,” Hartwick said of his first experience with the crossover format. “We get to see some different teams and some good hockey teams. I haven’t seen the other teams but seems to be quite a physical style of play in that division from what I’ve seen so far.”
With the weekend split the Raiders are now 3-1 on the young season, tied for first with the also 3-1 Amherstview Jets atop the Tod Division. Gananoque is 2-1-0-1, Picton 2-2, Port Hope 1-3 and Campbellford 0-2.
Napanee will face off against the Jets at home Friday evening for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop at the SPC. It’ll be their first meeting since the Jets abruptly ended the Raiders’ playoff run last February with a stunning first round upset.
On Sunday the Raiders hit the road and travel out of their division to take on the Georgina Ice in Sutton with a 3:30 p.m. game time.