Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Aidan McFarland netted a pair of goals Sunday to proper the Napanee Raiders to a 3-1 home victory over the Little Britain Merchants, extending Napanee’s point streak to 20 straight games in the process.
Cameron Robinson scored for the visitors less than two minutes into the game before the Raiders’ defense took over.
McFarland scored his first of the game in the final two minutes of the first on the power-play. Evan Foley and Greg Powles picked up assists.
Nic Case scored the go ahead goal midway through the second and McFarland added an insurance tally at the 11:55 mark of the third. Austin Labelle, Foley, Justynn Steven and Brodie Maracle all had assists.
Mitch Bown recovered nicely after allowing the early goal, finishing with 20 saves for the win. Oliver Webster took the loss for the Merchants, facing 43 shots on the night.
The previous night in Campbellford the Raiders came away with a 5-2 victory in what was quite possibly the most competitive game they’ve had against the Rebels in four years.
With just 15 skaters on their bench, the Raiders were held scoreless until the 6:58 mark of the second. The winless Rebels actually held a lead approaching the midway mark of the game thanks to Mathieu Piazzi’s first period tally.
MacKenzie Warren knotted the game at 1-1 on the power-play before Steven put the Raiders ahead 2-1 six minutes later. Greg Powles added a late goal to push the lead to 3-1.
The Rebels didn’t go down without a fight as Piazzi scored less than three minutes into the third to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Nic Case and Steven scored within a 14 second span, the latter on the power-play to generate a bit of breathing room. Bailey Maracle took over from there, finishing with 22 saves and the win. Michael Brassor turned away 35 shots for the Rebels.
With the pair of wins the Raiders have now picked up at least a point in all 20 games they’ve played, pushing their record to 18-0-1-1.
Napanee will look to keep it going Friday when they welcome the Picton Pirates to the SPC for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. On Sunday they visit the Amherstview Jets for a 7:25 p.m. start time in what will be the official half-way mark of the 44 game season.
Napanee’s 38 points are 12 better than Gananoque, who sit second at 11-5-1-3. Amherstview is third at 12-6-1 (25), Port Hope fourth at 9-6-2-1 (21), Picton is fifth at 7-10-1-1 (16) and Campbellford last, 0-15-0-2 (two).