Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
The Napanee Raiders’ win streak reached double digits with gusto over the weekend as they swept a home-and-home series with the Gananoque Islanders by a combined count of 23-2.
At home on Friday night the Raiders’ offense took a little while to get revved up before exploding for eight goals over the final 33 minutes en route to a 10-1 victory.
Nic Stafford, who was making his Raider debut, got the scoring started with an unassisted goal three minutes into the game. Josh Murphy doubled the lead just over four minutes later.
Gananoque’s Aiden Foley converted on the power-play just 22 seconds into the second period as the Islanders looked as though they may gave the Raiders a run for their money as the game reached the midway point. That’s when Napanee found its extra gear, starting with a Ryan Casselman goal at the 7:12 mark. That started a run of eight unanswered with Zach Knapp-Hermer, Tyler Ignazzitto, Riley Steeves and Sebastian Kilcommons all getting into the act in the second period. Napanee outshot the Islanders 30-3 in that eventful second period, 57-11 overall on the night.
In the third Murphy iced the win by completing a hat trick, sandwiching two goals around one from Austin Labelle. Nicholas Nabuurs picked up the win, needing just 10 saves to do it. The Raiders made good on their power-play opportunities, scoring on both chances while the Islanders went just 1-5 when they had the man-advantage.
On Sunday the two teams met again with a similar result as the Raiders skated away with a 13-1 victory.
Once again the Raiders picked up two in the first, this time from the sticks of Knapp-Hermer and Ignazzitto. Keegan Wayte cut the lead to 2-1, scoring what would be the Islanders’ lone tally of the game on the power-play.
Steeves potted a goal just 37 seconds into the second and the rout was on as the Raiders notched five in that period and six more in the third. Cullen Hinds picked up three goals, Stafford and Devon King a pair while Elliot Belzile, Jake Campbell and Aiden Lawford-Wickham had one each.
The two victories give Napanee 10 straight after their season opening loss back on Sept. 15 and represents one quarter of the total number of regular season games they’ll play.
The win streak will be put to the test Friday night when Port Hope comes to town for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. The Panthers are the lone team to defeat Napanee this year, though Napanee did return the favour on Sept. 30. Though still early in the season, the game could go a long way in determining which club earns the top seed when the playoffs roll around. The Panthers are 8-2 on the year, four points back with one fewer game played. The two clubs have posted similar numbers across the board this season as Napanee has 88 goals for while allowing 20. The Panthers have 81 scored, 21 allowed.
Following Friday’s home game the Raiders will close out the month of October on Sunday with a road tilt against the Amherstview Jets, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the W.J. Henderson Arena.
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