By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians travelled to the Pembroke Memorial Centre on Sunday for a game against the Pembroke Lumber Kings and left with a 3-1 victory.
Connor Hill scored the game-winning goal just over one minute into the second period, as the Canadians offence struck for one goal in each period. Jeremie Forget back-stopped Carleton Place to the win with a 21-save performance to extend his personal winning streak to eight games.
The four players away at the World Jr. A Challenge made their return on Sunday, and it didn’t take long for the impact of the return to be felt.
Zach Tupker, one of the four Canadians who was a member of Team Canada East, won a defensive zone face-off that turned into a Travis Broughman goal 10 seconds later. Ben Tupker took the puck the length of the ice before passing it to Zach in the corner. He kept the puck moving along the boards to Broughman behind the net and he beat Jake Smith with the wrap-around goal.
Hill made it a 2-0 Canadians lead with a power play goal 1:25 into the second period. Jaden Luik knocked down the clearing attempt and sent the puck towards the net. Hill got a stick on the puck and directed it past Smith for the score.
The two-goal lead was short-lived as Brendan Browne scored 0:46 later. Connor Warnholtz picked off the pass at centre-ice and rushed the puck into the Canadians zone. He found Browne on across the slot and hit him with the pass that Browne tapped into the open part of the net.
The Canadians kept the pressure up against the Lumber Kings, evident by the 35-22 shot advantage, but couldn’t beat Smith for some insurance until the final few minutes of the game.
Peyton Francis tallied the insurance goal with 2:28 remaining in the third period. Tim Theocharidis, who was named captain of Team Canada East, skated the puck into the Pembroke zone and cycled it down below the goal-line for Joey Warywoda. He slipped the puck out in front of the net, getting it past a pair of Lumber Kings defenders. Francis received the pass and quickly snapped a shot past Smith’s glove for the goal.
Carleton Place has two games remaining in the 2017 portion of its season with a home-and-home series against the Kemptville 73’s. The Canadians are on the road Wednesday before heading into the break with a home game on Friday.
