Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Franchise history could be made at the Strathcona Paper Centre tonight as the Napanee Raiders look to put a bow of their best ever regular season.
The Raiders moved one win away from 75 points last night with a 5-3 road win over the Picton Pirates.
After Picton’s Gerald Bilker put his team up 1-0 in the opening five minutes, Napanee rattled off four unanswered goals to take the lead for good.
Austin Labelle and Griffen Conger scored at the 12:07 and 13:48 mark of the first while Justynn Steven and Ryan Casselman scored four minutes and 6:30 into the second.
Justin Arnold scored in the dying seconds of the middle period for Picton to make it interesting, but Jeremy Piazzi shut the door from there. Tyler Ignazzitto added an insurance tally midway through the third.
Napanee will now host the fifth place Gananoque Islanders, who they’ve handled quite easily in their previous seven meetings, tonight at 7:30 p.m. with a chance for history on the line.
A win would give Napanee a final season record of 37-2-1. Their one overtime loss would allow them to surpass the 74 points they accumulated when they went 37-3 in 2008-09.
Following tonight’s game, the Raiders will open their playoff semifinals against the Amherstview Jets on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the SPC.