Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Logan White’s late heroics in back-to-back games allowed the Napanee Raiders to salvage a pair of points in last week’s action.
White scored the tying goal in the third period of Thursday’s 2-2 draw against the Picton Pirates Thursday night and then potted the tying goal in the third at home Friday in an eventual 3-3 stalemate with the Port Hope Panthers.
Both games went into overtime with neither side notching the sudden death goal, leaving Napanee with two out of four possible points.
On Friday the Raiders had to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the third. Nolan Stevenson and Logan Kelly scored for the visitors in the first and second respectively, sandwiched around a goal from Napanee’s Beckett Palmer-Stephen late in the first.
Stevenson added another early in the third to give the Panthers a two-goal cushion.
The Raiders were able to chip away courtesy a goal from Ben Chubbs just shy of the halfway mark followed by White’s game tying goal at 12:04.
The Panthers had their chance to seal the victory in overtime, outshooting Napanee 6-3 but Bailey Maracle, playing in his second straight overtime game, was up to the challenge. He finished with 32 saves on the night while his counterpart Sam Dingle turned away 31. Napanee went 0-5 on the power-play while Port Hope was 1-5.
The previous night White scored with less than four minutes left in the game to tie the game at 2-2.
After a scoreless first, Picton’s Owen Dever opened the scoring midway through the second period.
That lead held until Napanee’s Connor Brooks potted his first of the year 3:50 into the final frame. Noah Brant answered less than two minutes later for the Pirates on the power-play to give his team a 2-1 lead that nearly stood until the final buzzer.
Napanee outshot Picton 7-3 in overtime but couldn’t find the golden goal. On the night the shots favoured Picton 37-36.
Maracle had 35 saves while Picton’s Tyler Hayes had 34.
Napanee is now winless in their last three games, going 0-1-2. On the season they are 13-2-2.
The Pirates did the Raiders a favour on Sunday night however, besting the Jets 3-2 in Amherstview. That loss allowed the Raiders to retain sole possession of first place, two points up on the 13-3 Jets (28-26). Picton improved to 9-7-1, climbing into third place (19 points), one up on the 8-6-1-1 Panthers.
Napanee will open the December portion of their schedule with a key home showdown against the Amherstview Jets on Friday. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday they travel to Frankford to face the last place Huskies at 7:50 p.m.