By: Daniel Vazzoler
It took a comeback effort in the third period, but the Carleton Place Canadians picked up the victory on Sunday and beat the Cornwall Colts 3-2.
After falling behind in the second period, an early short-handed goal from Canadians assistant captain Sam Knoblauch tied the game at 2-2. Then rookie Travis Broughman scored his first career CCHL goal and it was enough to be the game winner.
“It was just a great feeling to be out there and just get those grime-ey goals,” Broughman said. “Townend got (the puck) on the wall and I knew Cmunt was up top, so I was just going to crash the net. He took the shot, puck came out and I just turned around and shot.”
Carleton Place coach Jason Clarke delivered words of praise about Broughman following the game.
“He’s been awesome all weekend, he’s been fantastic. He plays hard all the time, is an honest player and I think he’s going to be a very good, very effective in our league. I’m really looking forward to watching him play for the rest of the year.”
Carleton Place took the lead in the first period with Justin Cmunt’s first goal of the season before selfish play in the second period, said Knoblauch, cost the Canadians the lead.
“I thought, the forwards, we didn’t have a third-guy high (in the offensive zone). Forwards got a little greedy, myself included, and we gave up a couple odd-man rushes. We didn’t get back because we were tired, taking little longer shifts and they (Cornwall) scored a couple of goals,” he added.
Justin McRae got Cornwall on the scoreboard first with a rebound goal past the blocker of Jeremie Forget, after the Canadians goaltender made a pair of saves around the net.
The Canadians defence then got caught with a Colts line change as Chris Theodore snuck his way in between the defenders. McRae found the Cornwall forward with a long stretch pass, sending Theodore on the breakaway that he made no mistake on by delivering a backhand over Forget’s glove.
Clarke said the message to the team after the second period was to just trust the process and the game plan, and Carleton Place continued to put shots towards Liam Lascelle in the Cornwall net.
Knoblauch’s goal started with an odd-man rush while short handed. He set up Tim Theocharidis for a one-timed slap shot that Lascelle stopped. Lascelle looked as if he thought he had the puck in his body, but it had trickled past him. Knoblauch, while on his back, found it and swiped the puck into the net.
Carleton Place has now won their first two games in the CCHL Labour Day Showcase Weekend and has a chance to win all three games in the weekend for the first time since the start of the 2014-15 season. The team standing in the way of a perfect weekend is the Nepean Raiders as the two teams face off on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at the Bell Sensplex.
“Obviously it would feel good,” Knoblauch said. “It’s a long way to go in the season though. We’re just trying to get better every day and not worry so much about the wins and losses right now. Nice to get the win, but we’re just focused on getting better every game.”
“It’d be nice (to win all three games), but that’s for tomorrow,” said Clarke with a laugh.
