Adam Prudhomme
Editor
It was a bountiful harvest of goals for the Napanee Raiders this weekend as they picked up a 6-1 win over Frankford on at home on Friday followed by a 7-2 victory Saturday in Campbellford.
Despite the final score in Saturday’s road tilt, the game was actually very much anyone’s game midway through the second period. Campbellford, which has shown signs of being much more competitive than previous seasons, held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission courtesy a goal from Benny Scarr at 13:44.
A short break was just what the Raiders needed as they came out flying in the second with goals from Chris Edwards and Matthew Sheehy in the opening 68 seconds.
Dennis Fisher answered for the Rebels on the power-play just shy of the 11-minute mark to knot the game at 2-2.
Beckett Palmer-Stephen scored the important go-ahead goal with just over six minutes to goal in the middle frame, also on the power-play, to allow Napanee to head into the final intermission with a lead.
The final 20 minutes was all Raiders as captain Noah Westwater, Edwards, Soren Zamuner and Ben White each netted a goal to seal the victory. The Raiders outshot their opponents 20-3 in the final frame and 53-26 on the night.
Bailey Maracle picked up the win for Napanee with 24 saves while Eric Martin took the loss, turning away 46 of 53. Napanee converted on three of seven power-plays while the Rebels made good on just one of their six man-advantage opportunities.
Mitch Bown deflects a shot just wide of the net. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
One night earlier the Raiders welcomed the Frankford Huskies to town for their first meeting with the Tod Division’s newest team.
Napanee built a 2-1 lead in the first courtesy of goals from Ethan Williams and Maverick Labrie. Connor Gilligan had the lone goal for the visitors, scoring in the final seconds of the period, just 16 seconds after Labrie’s goal.
The Huskies weren’t able to do anything with that momentum however as Logan White scored 4:11 into the second period to give Napanee a 3-1 lead. Ben Chubbs and Johnny Wright tacked on goals form the home team. Chubbs notched one more in the third to ice the 6-1 victory.
Mitch Bown made 19 of 20 saves for the win while Andrei Ballack took the loss, turning away 32 of 38.
With the pair of wins Napanee is now 3-0 to start the season. They’ll put that perfect record on the line Thursday when they travel to Picton to face the Pirates, who are also off to a 3-0 start to their season.
On Friday the Raiders will host the Port Hope Panthers to the SPC and then on Sunday they’ll play their third game in four days when they travel to Amherstview to face the Jets. All three games feature a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.