By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians completed a perfect CCHL Showcase Week-end with a 5-0 win against the Nepean Raiders on Sunday.
For the Canadians, the win gave them three wins in the three games during the showcase. But the showcase was merely a part of the busy start to the CCHL season for the Canadians as they have already played six games just 10 days into the season.
With Devon Levi making the first two starts of the week-end for the Canadians, Addison Lawrence was between the pipes for Carleton Place. His first start, a 4-3 loss to the Navan Grads, left room for improvement, and he surpassed that by picking up the 17-save shutout.
“I wish I had a couple more shots against,” joked Lawrence post-game. “It was hard to lose the other game for sure, but I feel I did a lot better (Sunday) at staying focused.”
“I thought Addison, in his first game, looked a little shaky. He made some big saves but there were probably two goals he would like to have back. I felt he wasn’t as busy as the other game but he made some big saves again and looked more confident in the net,” Canadians coach Jason Clarke said.
It was a balanced attack for the Carleton Place on Sunday, with each of the forward lines contributing a goal. Jake Code continued his torrid start to the season, picking up his fifth goal in just six games, while Cameron Patton, David Gagnon, Luke Evo and hometown player Oliver Carriere all got on the board as well.
The play leading to the Carriere goal may not have been an ideal start for him, with team-mate Ben Brunette flattening the Canadians forward in the slot, but he bounced back up and rejoined the play.
“I saw (Brendan) Hill wheel it down the side and I just went to the net,” Carriere described. “He made a good pass, the guy’s quite the player, and he just put the puck right on my tape. When I saw it go in the net, I threw my hands up and was really excited.”
Carriere wasn’t the only one excited when he scored his first career CCHL goal.
“I was so happy for him,” said Clarke. “He’s always wanted to be a Carleton Place Canadian and he’s just worked his way into the line-up. He just continues to impress the staff all the time so I was really happy to see him get rewarded for his hard work.”
Carleton Place, as a team, played a hard and physical game which Clarke said was something he addressed with his team heading into the week-end.
“I guess we were struggling a bit with playing hard without the puck,” added Canadians captain Elliott McDermott. “In the past couple of games, we’ve really been focusing on that and I think we’ve made a drastic improvement on that specifically. We just create a lot more turnovers playing that way, and that creates a lot more chances for us.”
The Canadians now have the remainder of the week to rest and recover before facing the unbeaten Pembroke Lumber Kings on Friday at the Carleton Place Arena. Special guests Liam Maguire and Bill “Goldie” Goldthorpe – depicted as Ogie Oglethorpe in the movie “Slapshot” – will be in attendance.
