By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians picked up their second win of the season on Sunday with a road victory on Sunday against the Pembroke Lumber Kings.
Carleton Place defeated Pembroke by a score of 3-2 and there was one player involved in all three Canadians goals – Owen Brady. Brady, a 19-year-old defenceman in his first season with the Canadians, tallied three assists to get the offence generated in the win.
“Brady is a natural leader who thrives in a competitive environment,” Canadians head coach Brent Sullivan said. “As the game gets harder, his level picks up. The execution of his outlet passes is the key to his game. The kid’s a gamer.”
Brady showed off his passing ability on many occasions Sunday night. He picked up his first assist of the night by setting up Brandon Walker for a one-timed blast that beat Ben Forget from the top of the right-wing circle off a face-off win in the attacking zone.
Brady’s second assist again came off a face-off win in the attacking zone. This time, instead of setting someone else up for a shot after the draw, Brady took the shot himself. Forget made the initial save but Dylan Pollock gathered the rebound and beat the defenceless Forget early in the third period.
Lastly, Brady set up Christian Berini for the game-winning goal with an excellent play to keep the play in at the attacking blue-line. Berini beat Forget with the quick release on a long wrist shot to get his first goal of the 2022-23 season to get the Canadians the victory.
The game wasn’t all pretty, though, in Sullivan’s eyes. Carleton Place did a good job of staying disciplined while drawing the Lumber Kings into penalty troubles. The issues were the Canadians allowed two power play goals on three penalty kills while going 0-for-7 when on the man advantage themselves.
“It was an ugly game, I’m not happy with our execution” Sullivan said. “Our power play needs more urgency to make plays and take what’s given to them. It’s rare you lose the special teams battle and win the game, but we’ll take it.”
At the end of the day, the Canadians picked up a pair of victories on the road against two teams who were play-off teams last season and proved to be strong tests for a young team that is looking to get into the post-season this year.
“Those are two very tough rinks to play in for a lot of young, new guys,” Sullivan said. “We’re happy to leave with four points but we’re never satisfied and always looking to get better.”
Carleton Place next has their home opener on Tuesday in another big test, taking on the reigning champs in the Ottawa Jr Senators coming to the Carleton Place Arena.
Despite the momentum being built with the two wins, Sullivan said the team needs to improve in order to keep the momentum going on Tuesday.
