Adam Prudhomme
Editor
The Napanee Raiders opened the month of December with a pair of wins, clipping the Picton Pirates 2-1 on the road Thursday before defeating the Campbellford Rebels 5-2 at home Friday.
Blake Aylesworth lit the lamp twice in Friday’s triumph, part of a string that saw the Raiders score five times before the Rebels could break the shutout. Noah Jacobsen, Marshall McFarland and Adam Nuttall also found the back of the net for the home team.
Campbellford got on the board in unique fashion as Ben Hansen converted on a rare penalty shot opportunity at the 11:21 mark of the second period. Though the Rebels were able to slow the Raiders’ offensive machine for the latter half of the game, they weren’t able to generate much offense of their own. Kyle Allan potted the Rebels’ second goal of the game with just over two minutes remaining on the clock. There would be no magical Rebels comeback from there as the Raiders wrapped up the 5-2 win.
Alex Zamuner earned the win, facing just 14 shots on the night. That was quite the contrast to the action seen at the other end of the ice as Campbellford goalie Noah Barker was peppered with 42 pucks. Despite allowed five goals on the night, his efforts still earned him third star of the game. Aylesworth’s two goals coupled with one assist made him the natural pick for first start, followed by Jacobsen who scored the first goal of the game.
Thursday’s road tilt in Picton was a much closer affair, with the entire scoring taking place within an 11-minute span of the second period.
Brody Partridge scored 4:10 into the middle frame to give the Pirates a 1-0 advantage. The lead was short-lived however as Aylesworth notched the equalizer less than two minutes later.
That score would hold until the 15:26 mark when Napanee’s Noah Westwater put the visitors in front 2-1 with a power-play goal.
Napanee continued to pressure through the final 20 minutes, out-shooting the Pirates 14-5, but had no goals to show for it. Fortunately for them their defense and the goaltending of Bailey Maracle were up to the task and made that one goal advantage stand until the final buzzer. Picton’s keeper Brady Spry finished with 43 saves on the night and a tough luck loss. Maracle earned the win with 23 stops.
After a minor hiccup late last month that saw them drop back-to-back games, the Raiders seemed to have righted the ship and have now run their win streak to three in a row, improving to 19-2 overall. That’s good for 38 points, 11 up on the 13-8-1 Amherstview Jets. The third-place Pirates are 12-7, good for 24 points.
The Jets will look to cut into that lead when they visit the SPC on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. On Saturday the Raiders hit the road to take on the Port Hope Panthers.
From there it’s just two games left in the 2022 portion of the schedule with a Dec. 16 home game against Picton followed by a Dec. 20 match in Campbellford before the Christmas break.