Adam Prudhomme
Editor
The Napanee Raiders bent but they didn’t break Thursday night in Picton, rallying for four unanswered goals to close out the Pirates with a 6-4 victory.
The win closes out the East Tod Division quarter-final series 4-2 and advances Napanee to a semifinal showdown with the first place Frankford Huskies.
Picton was 20 minutes away from forcing a winner-take-all Game 7, holding a 4-2 lead heading into the final intermission.
That score remained until just shy of the halfway mark when Trent Williams got the Raiders to within one at 9:19. Andrew Carr tied it up at 11:35.
Still anyone’s game at that point, Michael Patrick scored the gigantic go-ahead tally at 17:21. Carr all-but-ended the Pirates’ season with an empty net goal with 11 seconds left to play.
Ben Chubbs scored in the first for Napanee while Cameron Krupa lit the lamp just 10 seconds into the middle frame. Cole Stevenson, Gerrit Kempers, Nick Kirby and Luc Amat all tallied for the home team in the losing effort. Picton out-shot Napanee 44-42 on the night, with Raider goalie Logan Vale outlasting Picton’s Nick McGrayne.
Though they entered as the underdogs, the Pirates gave Napanee a run for their money in their series with all but Game 1 decided by two goals or fewer.
The Raiders will now take their turn as underdog in their next series, facing a Huskies team that finished 12 points ahead of them in the season, scoring a league high 219 goals while allowing a league low 116. Napanee had 192 goals for and 123 against.
Schedule for that series is yet to be announced.
Meanwhile in Campbellford the Port Hope Panthers closed out their sweep of the Rebels with a 5-2 win.
For the Rebels it mercifully ends their season that saw them fail to record a single win in either the regular season or playoffs. It also signals the end of an era for the Rebels franchise, who are slated to be re-branded as the Trent Hills Thunder, operating under new ownership for next season. Founded in 1992, the Rebels have six league titles to their name, the last coming in 2012. It’s been rough sledding the last nine years, nevee once posting a winning record, most years fortunate enough to win just once in 40 plus games.
As for the Panthers, they now get set to face off against the second seed Amherstview Jets in a best-of-seven series with a trip to the league finals at stake.