Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Playing in front of hometown fans for the first time in nearly 18 months, the Napanee Raiders didn’t disappoint, blanking the visiting Campbellford Rebels 4-0 in a pre-season game Friday night at the SPC.
Reid Lambert, playing on his home ice for the first time in Raider black and white, scored less than two minutes into the game, his first of two on the night. He’d finish with the first and last goal of the game.
Matt Sheehy doubled the lead with a break away goal before Rheydon McCoy scored from a difficult angle to put the Raiders up 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes. Bailey Maracle was strong in net, picking up the shutout.
“A lot of hype, a lot of buzz in the building,” Raiders head coach Ben Hagerman said following the win. “It was so nice to see our guys play in front of a really good crowd, especially for pre-season. A loud crowd, the rink definitely had some volume. I thought it was a really good hockey game. Our guys played with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm early on and got the lead. Campbellford has a much-improved program from the last couple of years, stayed relatively close most of the game. I think we used the excitement and the emotion to help our guys get through the early season rust. All our systems aren’t exactly to point yet, but just to see people back in the rink, to see how excited our fans are to play in front of fans and to hear cheers when there was a goal, a nice save or a nice hit was just awesome.”
The Rebels, winners of just three regular season games from 2016-19, gave the two-time reigning Tod Division first place finishers Raiders a run for their money in the hard-hitting exhibition game.
“We have a bit of a younger team than we’ve had in the past,” said Hagerman. “To see that none of our guys were intimidated or backed down and for the most part carried the physical play, was really exciting to see as well.”
Napanee will wrap up the exhibition season by hosting the Picton Pirates this Friday at the SPC. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.
Hagerman says that game will be used mostly as a last-minute tune-up as the Opening Night roster is pretty well determined at this point.
“We’re really happy with some new recruits that are here,” said Hagerman. “We’re in around the 21-22 mark right now, the most we can have is 23. So we’re pretty set. It’s been a bit of process, three and half weeks to get there, but we feel really good about our roster at this point.”
The Raiders are set to open the regular season Oct. 1 when they host the Amherstview Jets at 7:30 p.m.