Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
A hard fought, thrilling 2-1 victory over Port Hope on Friday mixed with a 7-2 romp over the Amherstview Jets on Sunday pushed the Napanee Raiders’ win streak to 12 straight.
Ryan Casselman ignited the Raiders’ offense early on the road Sunday, scoring just 1:09 into the game. Kyle Hancock added another at the 14:02 mark.
In the second they continued to pull away as Brodie Maracle and Riley Steeves each scored within a span of two minutes. Amherstview’s Joey Mayer stopped the Raiders’ run with a goal midway through the second.
Justynn Steven and Steeves iced the win with goals early in the third to push the lead to 6-1. Colin Migneault responded late for the Jets only to be offset by Zach Knapp-Hermer to close out the 7-2 Raider victory.
Jeremy Piazzi earned the win with 24 saves while Keegan Paulette took the loss, stopping 28 of 35.
Though they managed to fill the net with seven goals, the Raiders went 0-6 on the power-play. The Jets didn’t fare any better with an extra skater, going 0-3.
Friday night at home the Raiders picked up a huge statement win against the Panthers, hanging on for the 2-1 victory.
Raiders goalie Nicholas Nabuurs denies Port Hope’s Jarrett Desormeaux a wrap around attempt during Friday’s game. Adam Prudhomme photo.
Steeves got the Raiders on the board first, converting on the power-play 8:50 minutes into the game.
That lead held until early in the second, when Graham Dickerson tucked a nifty wrap-around goal into the corner of the net. Both teams traded chances throughout the rest of the period, but Napanee’s Nic Nabuurs matched his net-minding counterpart Tyler Masternais save for save. In the end it was Masternais who would blink first, as Casselman bested him for the go ahead goal at the 6:10 mark of the third.
“It was just kind of a blackout and a quick shot,” Casselman said of his game winner. “That goalie had a good glove all night. In between the second and third we were told to shoot blocker and I just tried to shoot blocker and got lucky and it went in.”
The Panthers continued to apply pressure, outshooting the home team 13-9 over the final 20 minutes but couldn’t get the all-important equalizer.
“(Masternais) played great all night but so did our goalie,” said Casselman. “We really wanted to give him that win because he stood on his head. We just stuck with it and played hard and we’re happy to come out with the W.”
With the win the Raiders are now 2-1 on the season against the three-time reigning league champions, and have already matched their win total from the eight head-to-head meetings they had with Port Hope last season. They’ve now opened up a six point gap over the Panthers, their biggest of the season.
“The first game (a 5-1 loss to Port Hope on Sept. 15) was definitely a wake up call for us,” said Casselman of the 12 game win streak. “We came into the season maybe a little too confident. It’s not fun to lose. We’ve been playing great hockey and we hope to keep it up.”
The Raiders will go for lucky no. 13 in a row Friday night when they welcome the winless Campbellford Rebels into the SPC for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. On Saturday they’ll have another shot at the Panthers with a 7 p.m. puck drop in Port Hope.
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