Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
The Napanee Raiders were dressed to the nines this weekend as its offense posted identical 9-2 victories over both the Great Britain Merchants and Georgina Ice.
In a rare home date on Sunday evening, the Raiders wasted little time in building a 5-0 advantage in the opening 20 minutes against the Ice.
Brayden Adams, an AP from Stirling playing in his first game with the Raiders, opened the scoring at 8:05, igniting what would turn into a 9-0 run for the home team. Jacob Gilbert, Cameron Harris, Devon King and Brodie Maracle followed to give the Raiders a comfortable 5-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Maracle added his second of the night five minutes into the second, accounting for the only scoring of the middle frame. Harris and Ryan Casselman each scored within the opening five minutes of the third and Maracle capped off a hat trick just seconds later for Napanee’s final goal of the game. Casselman and Austin Labelle each had four assists on the night.
Evan Foley skates behind the net and looks for an open man. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Parker Gowan broke the shutout with Georgina’s first goal of the game just shy of the midway point of the third. Jesse King-Norris added another for the visitors at 14:23, but it wasn’t nearly enough to put the game’s outcome in doubt.
Nicholas Nabuurs picked up the win, his seventh of the season, with the 19 save effort. The Ice’s Alex Surzycia took the loss, facing 46 total shots on the night.
Neither side took advantage of their power-play chances, with Napanee going 0-2 and the Ice 0-4.
In Friday’s game the Raiders’ snipers took a little while to get warmed up, scoring quickly when Evan Foley potted the game’s first goal on the power-play just 2:18 into the game, but then went silent for the rest of the period.
In the second they erupted for six goals, with Casselman striking on the power-play just 1:30 into the frame. King added another just 37 seconds later before the Merchants’ Cameron Marquis broke up the Raiders’ scoring streak with the visitors’ first tally of the game at 5:24.
Any thoughts of a Little Britain comeback were dashed when Casselman and Foley each scored just 16 seconds apart to build a 5-1 lead. Casselman completed a hat-trick with his third of the night, all coming within an 11:14 span. Justynn Steven tacked on another before Little Britain’s Cameron Nicolaides scored late in the second to cut the deficit to 7-2.
Labelle and Dayton Kent each potted a goal in the third to finish off the 9-2 drubbing.
Bailey Maracle earned the win, his eighth of the season, facing just 16 shots on the night. It also marked the fourth straight game he’s allowed two goals, giving him a sparkling 1.69 GAA in nine games. His counterpart Brett Chandler saw 44 pucks fired his way.
With his three goals, Casselman now has 13, one back of league leader Matt Poole of Picton. Labelle meanwhile leads the pack in points with 32, five ahead of Casselman and seven more than Foley. Labelle also leads the league with 22 helpers.
With their two wins the Raiders run their record to 15-1-1, and are now unbeaten in 14 straight. Their 31 points are six up on the Piton Pirates, who are 12-5-0-1 in 18 games, having played one more than Napanee. The Amherstview Jets are 7-8-2 with 16 points, the Gananoque Islanders 4-11-1-1 with 10 points, the Port Hope Panthers 3-13 with six points and the Campbellford Rebels are 1-15-0-1 with three points.
After their two home games this weekend, the Raiders will be on the road this week, travelling to Uxbridge on Friday to face the Bruins with a 7:45 p.m. puck drop. Uxbridge is 12-5-0-2 on the season, third place in the Orr Division.
Napanee’s next home game will be Nov. 23, when they welcome the 8-8-1 Clarington Eagles to the SPC for a 7:30 p.m. start time.