By Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Tyler Ignazzitto lit the lamp twice in the first period to help ignite the Raiders’ 8-4 road victory over the Amherstview Jets in Sunday night’s Tod Division action.
The Bath native struck first just over a minute into the game and again at the 15:44 mark. His second broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Raiders a lead they’d never relinquish. Amherstview’s Evan Hunt’s goal was sandwiched between Ignazzitto’s two goals to cut the lead to 2-1.
Zach Knapp-Herman put the Raiders up 3-1 with a quick strike in the second, potting his third goal of the season just 16 seconds into the frame. Hunter Chapman responded for the Jets at the 9:01 mark to chop the deficit to 3-2, but that was as close as the Jets would ever get. The Raiders put it away midway through the period when Brendan Hagerman, Cullen Hinds and Austin Labelle each notched a goal, all in a span of two minutes and 28 seconds to push the lead to 6-2.
Zach Maciel buried a power-play goal in the dying seconds for the Jets, but the goal failed to provide any momentum. The Raiders came out flying in the third, again striking very early in a period as Labelle recorded a goal 39 seconds after the opening draw. Casselman pushed the lead to 8-3 with his second goal of the game. Amherstview’s Joey Mayer had the last goal of the game but it was too little too late, cutting the Raiders’ lead to 8-4.
Raider goalie Nicholas Nabuurs took over from there, finishing the game with 21 saves on 25 shots. Hayden Ford made the start for the Jets but was chased after the Raider’s sixth goal of the game. He was replaced by Keegan Paulette who allowed the final two. For the night the Raiders outshot the home team 40-25.
The Jets made good on one of their three power-play chances while the Raiders failed to score on any of their man-advantages.
The victory was Napanee’s second in a row, pushing their record to 2-1 on the young season. The Jets, meanwhile, fall to 1-1.
After struggling to find the net in their season opening 5-1 loss, the Raiders have now cranked out 18 goals over their last two games. They’ll look to keep rolling on Friday night when they welcome Picton to the SPC for their first look at Pirates of the season. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. The Pirates are still searching for their first win of the season while the Raiders are yet to win a game on home ice.
On Saturday the Raiders hit the road to take on the Port Hope Panthers.
The Panthers are looking like they’ll be the powerhouse of the league once again as they’ve roared through their first four games, outscoring their opponents by a clip of 39-4. On Thursday they trounced the Pirates 10-2 and then were all over the Campbellford Rebels on Saturday, winning 12-1.