Adam Prudhomme
Editor
The Napanee Raiders are bound for the East Tod Division Finals after knocking off the top-seeded Frankford Huskies in Game 6 at the SPC on Friday night.
Ben White and Marshall McFarland each scored twice while Reid Lambert tallied once to power Napanee to a 5-1 win.
White got the Raiders on the board midway through the first before Frankford’s Tyson Carr replied a minute and a half later.
It was all Napanee from there as McFarland put them ahead 2-1 6:01 into the second. White scored his second of the game on a penalty shot 1:39 into the third for some insurance. Lambert further added to the advantage at 16:42 and McFarland sealed it with Napanee’s fifth at 17:34 into an empty net.
Logan Vale earned the win with 29 saves, winning all four games for Napanee in the series. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Logan Vale, who started each game of the series, including Friday’s back-to-back, earned the win with 29 saves. Sam Dingle took the loss for the Huskies, charged with three of the five goals on 33 shots.
An enthusiastic crowd of over 800 people were at the SPC to watch the home team clinch.
After splitting the first two games of the series, the Huskies went ahead 2-1 with an overtime win in Game 3. Napanee rebounded in a big way, reeling off three straight to close it out.
The Napanee Raiders celebrate Ben White’s first period goal and would eventually get to celebrate closing out the Frankford Huskies to return to the East Tod Division Finals after missing out last year. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
The Huskies were a dominant force all regular season, losing just eight times in regulation and 12 times overall in 42 games, cruising to a first place finish. That automatically advanced them to the semifinals, where they drew the fourth place Raiders who trailed them by 12 points in the standings. All of that got erased come the playoffs however and Napanee got it done when it counted.
The Raiders will now await to see who they take on in the best-of-seven league finals-but they won’t have to wait long. The Port Hope Panthers currently hold a 3-2 series lead on the Amherstview Jets with Game 6 set for tomorrow night and if necessary, Game 7 goes Sunday evening.
Advancing to the finals is already an improvement on last year’s finish for the Raiders, as they were bounced in the semifinals in six games to the Port Hope Panthers. It wasn’t a long absence from the finals however, as Napanee last made it in 2022, defeating the Jets to win the league before bowing out in the conference semifinals to the Clarington Eagles. Prior to that, not counting COVID shortened seasons, the Raiders went all the way to a Schmalz Cup championship in 2019.