By Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
A third-period rally win in Picton followed by a 14-0 blowout win at home over Campbellford on Friday has pushed the Napanee Raiders’ win streak to six games.
Down 4-3 heading into the third in Thursday’s game, the Raiders wasted little time igniting their comeback. Jake Campbell scored 3:40 into the frame and Justynn Steven notched the go-ahead goal less than two minutes later, chiming in at the 5:04 mark. The captain’s goal gave Napanee their first lead of the night and would prove to be the game winner. Ryan Casselman added a power-play goal into an empty net in the final minute to secure the win. The goal was also the former Junior A standout’s third of the night.
The Raiders had been playing catch-up all night when former teammate Jordan Cannons struck just 3:31 into the game for the Bucs. Casselman responded for Napanee, only to be offset by Picton’s Chase Burden. Tyler Ignazzitto tied it up for Napanee just 13 seconds later and the back-and-forth affair was on.
Cannons put the Pirates up late in the first and Devin Morrison pushed it to a two-goal lead just seconds into the middle period. The 4-2 lead represented Picton’s biggest advantage of the night. It also prompted Raiders’ head coach Mike Hartwick to pull starting goalie Jeremy Piazzi in favour of Nicholas Nabuurs.
Casselman got one back midway through the second on the power-play to kelp set up Napanee’s third period comeback. Nabuurs slammed the door, stopping all 20 shots he faces the rest of the game. Napanee had two goals on six power-plays while Picton scored once on four advantages. The Raiders outshot the home team 40-34 on the night.
Piazzi would redeem himself the next night, registering a 14 save shutout in the lopsided win over the visiting Rebels.
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