By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians and Rockland Nationals started their CCHL quarter-final series on Friday at the Carleton Place Arena, and the Canadians defended home ice with a 6-2 win in Game One.
Offence from the Canadians defence proved to be the difference with four of the six goals coming from the blue-line. Tim Theocharidis, named the league’s best defenceman during the regular season, tallied a goal and an assist and Josh Gagne added some insurance to the Carleton Place lead in the third period.
But it was Aidan Girduckis who led the way with a four-point game, scoring two goals – including the game-winner – and two assists.
“It felt pretty good to get some points. I got switched on the power plays and I felt I was able to get involved a little bit more. Hopefully that keeps going because it was working pretty well [Friday],” he said.
“Aidan Girduckis was the best player on the ice, by far,” praised Canadians coach Jason Clarke. “That’s one of the best games I think I’ve seen him play as a Carleton Place Canadian and, if that’s the way he plays his first game of the playoffs (this year), then that’s a real good sign for us, he was real good.”
Theocharidis got the scoring started late in the first period, firing a wrist shot on the rush past Sean Storr, beating the goalie off the post and into the net.
Sam Knoblauch extended the lead early in the second period with his first of three points on Friday night, scoring on the power play. The Canadians executed their face-off play to perfection, setting Knoblauch up for the wrist shot quickly after the face-off win by Sam Allison for the 2-0 lead.
Girduckis scored his first of the game 1:17 later to make it a 3-0 lead, taking advantage of an aggressive Nationals defence with a pair of players watching Ben Tupker along the boards before he slipped the puck to Knoblauch who found Girduckis in the 3-on-1 chance in the slot.
A handful of Canadians made their CCHL-playoff debut and perhaps some post-season jitters helped create the opportunity for Rockland’s first goal of the game.
Anthony Blad forced a turnover at the Canadians blue-line and the skill of Brady Elder and Antoine Leblanc did the rest. Elder made a nice cross-crease pass to Leblanc that left Jeremie Forget sprawled out and Leblanc just chipped the puck into the open part of the net.
The two teams traded power play goals to end the second period, first Nick Pryce restoring the three-goal lead before Trevor Coykendall capitalized on a 5-on-3 advantage with a one-timer to beat Forget.
Games between the Canadians and Nationals have been feisty affairs during the regular season – averaging 11 combined power plays – and that continued into the playoffs with another 11 power plays on Friday.
“It’s the playoffs, so it’s going to be a little more chippy with stuff after the whistle, and guys know that,” Canadians assistant captain Sam Knoblauch said. “I think [Friday] was a good learning lesson, guys know they have to keep their cool and we’ve been good on the power play so we want to have as many of those as we can.”
With the win, the Canadians take the 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and Clarke acknowledged after the game the importance of winning Game One.
“You get the home-ice advantage for a reason in the playoffs and you’ve got to be able to win at home,” he said. “I thought we played a pretty solid game (but) I think there’s a few things we need to polish up. For a first game for the playoffs, I thought it was a very good start.”
The series now shifts to Rockland for Game Two on Sunday at the CIH Arena at 2:30 p.m. before returning to the Carleton Place Arena on Wednesday for Game Three at 8:15 p.m.
Playoff Matchups Around the League
* = if necessary
BOLD = higher seed home game
(1) CPC vs (8) ROC – CPC leads 1-0
GAME 1: CPC vs ROC – CPC 6-2
GAME 2: ROC vs CPC – Sun., Mar. 18 – 2:30 p.m.
GAME 3: CPC vs ROC – Wed., Mar 21 – 8:15 p.m.
GAME 4: ROC vs CPC – Thurs., Mar. 22 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 5: CPC vs ROC – Sat., Mar. 24 – 7:15 p.m. *
GAME 6: ROC vs CPC – Sun., Mar. 25 – 2:30 p.m. *
GAME 7: CPC vs ROC – Tues., Mar. 27 – 7:15 p.m. *
(2) OJS vs (7) PLK – OJS leads 2-0
GAME 1: OJS vs PLK – OJS 5-0
GAME 2: PLK vs OJS – OJS 6-2
GAME 3: OJS vs PLK – Sat., Mar. 17, 7:30 p.m.
GAME 4: PLK vs OJS – Tues., Mar. 20 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 5: OJS vs PLK – Thurs., Mar. 22 – 7:30 p.m. *
GAME 6: PLK vs OJS – Sun., Mar. 25 – 7:00 p.m. *
GAME 7: OJS vs PLK – Tues., Mar. 27 – 7:30 p.m. *
(3) BRO vs (6) KAN – BRO leads 1-0
GAME 1: BRO vs KAN – BRO 5-3
GAME 2: KAN vs BRO – Sun., Mar. 18 – 6:30 p.m.
GAME 3: BRO vs KAN – Tues., Mar 20 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 4: KAN vs BRO – Thurs., Mar. 22 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 5: BRO vs KAN – Fri., Mar. 23 – 7:30 p.m. *
GAME 6: KAN vs BRO – Sun., Mar. 25 – 6:30 p.m. *
GAME 7: BRO vs KAN – Tues., Mar. 27 – 7:30 p.m. *
(4) HAW vs (5) CRW – HAW leads 1-0
GAME 1: HAW vs CRW – HAW 4-3
GAME 2: CRW vs HAW – Sun., Mar. 18 – 2:30 p.m.
GAME 3: HAW vs CRW – Mon., Mar 19 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 4: CRW vs HAW – Thurs., Mar. 22 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 5: HAW vs CRW – Fri., Mar. 23 – 7:30 p.m. *
GAME 6: CRW vs HAW – Sun., Mar. 25 – 7:00 p.m. *
GAME 7: HAW vs CRW – Tues., Mar. 27 – 7:30 p.m. *
