Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Matthew Airhart’s lone goal wasn’t enough for the visiting Napanee Raiders as they fell 3-1 to the Frankford Huskies on Saturday night.
That loss closes the books on the Raiders’ regular season, giving them a record of 32-8-2, placing them second in the East Tod Division. They’ll open the playoffs against the seventh seed Trent Hills Thunder in the East Tod quarter-finals. Dates and times of that series are yet to be announced.
Napanee entered Saturday’s game needing a win to sew up first place.
Airhart got them off to a strong start, scoring with three minutes remaining in the first period.
Napanee carried that 1-0 lead until the 14:31 mark of the second when Frankford’s Evan Erwin knotted the game at 1-1. Just three minutes later his teammate Blake Ellis would put the Huskies ahead for good.
They capped the victory with an empty net goal in the final seconds of the third period.
For the Huskies it marks the second straight year of securing the top seed, though the Raiders knocked them out of the playoffs last February en route to the league title.
The league’s playoff picture isn’t quite settled yet as the fourth place Amherstview Jets trail the third place Picton Pirates by just a point with one game left to play against the Thunder tomorrow afternoon. Just a single point by the Jets would propel them into third.
Everything else is set with the Huskies in first, Raiders second, Lakefield Chiefs fifth, Port Hope Panthers sixth, Thunder seventh and North Kawartha Knights eights. The playoffs will begin with a standard one versus eight format.