By: Daniel Vazzoler
It took over-time on Saturday for the Ottawa Jr. Senators to defeat the Carleton Place Canadians 3-2 in Game Two, but the score-board was kind to Carleton Place and how the team played.
“(Michael) Leach was the best player on the ice and we had 19 other guys who chose not to compete and chose not to play the game the right way,” Canadians coach Jason Clarke said. “It was one of the hardest games I’ve had to watch all year long.”
Leach did all he could from the Canadians crease to help his team to victory and his team-mates helped reward his efforts by getting a one-goal lead in the third period.
Then, the troubles that plagued Carleton Place in the opening 40 minutes returned in the latter half of the third period and created the opportunity for Elie Boulerice to tie the game with just three seconds left in the period.
“We just competed for five or six minutes, and in those five or six minutes we scored some goals and made a couple of adjustments,” explained Clarke. “Then we went back to someone else’s game plan, not what the coaching staff had set in place.
“Very disappointed in [Saturday’s] effort and how the guys were ready to go, but the bright spot about the series is that our goaltender has been an absolute stud so far. When your goaltending is as good as it is and you’re playing as bad as we are right now, with no compete, zero leadership and we lose two one-goal games, I think that’s what you have to look at as the bright spot of things.”
Clarke continued to express his frustration in his team’s performance, saying, “Hopefully our best players can be our best players, our leaders can lead and start playing hockey the way we know how, not like a bunch of Jr. ‘D’ hockey players.”
Despite the struggles throughout regulation, the Canadians had chances to win the game in the extra period but couldn’t find the strike to beat Connor Hicks. There were a number of chances created by Carleton Place on the rush but, in the end, the shot either missed the net or wasn’t a difficult save for Hicks.
It was the same case for Ottawa on the first of its four shots in the over-time period but a one-timer from Nick Lalonde beat Leach and gave the Jr. Senators a 3-2 win and a 2-0 series lead.
Carleton Place fell behind late in the second period courtesy of a Pierre-Luc Veillette power-play goal. The Canadians answered back early in the third period with goals from Travis Broughman and Tim Theocharidis less than two minutes apart.
Carleton Place couldn’t build upon the momentum the goals provided as it fell into penalty trouble, allowing Ottawa to restore pressure on the Canadians.
“You can’t take a one-goal lead and take three selfish penalties,” Clarke expressed. “Guys punching guys in the head, slashing a stick out of the other guy’s hands, it’s just very uncharacteristic of the way we’ve played all year long. We’ll need to figure it out and figure it out quickly.”
The coach voiced his displeasure in his team’s compete level during the first two games of the series and said he will look to change that on Sunday during practice before Monday’s Game Three back at the Carleton Place Arena.
“Internal competition is always a good thing, so we’ll have a good practice on Sunday and hopefully we can start getting some compete.”
Playoff Matchups Around the League
* = if necessary
BOLD = higher seed home game
Bogart Cup Finals
(1) CPC vs (2) OJS – OJS leads 2-0
GAME 1: CPC vs OJS – OJS 2-1
GAME 2: OJS vs CPC – OJS 3-2 (OT)
GAME 3: CPC vs OJS – Mon., Apr. 16 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 4: OJS vs CPC – Wed., Apr. 18 – 7:30 p.m.
GAME 5: CPC vs OJS – Sat., Apr. 21 – 7:45 p.m. *
GAME 6: OJS vs CPC – Sun., Apr. 22 – 7:30 p.m. *
GAME 7: CPC vs OJS – Tues., Apr. 24 – 7:30 p.m. *
Semi-finals
(1) CPC vs (4) HAW – CPC wins 4-0
GAME 1: CPC vs HAW – CPC 4-2
GAME 2: HAW vs CPC – CPC 3-2
GAME 3: CPC vs HAW – CPC 4-1
GAME 4: HAW vs CPC – CPC 5-1
(2) OJS vs (3) BRO – OJS wins 4-3
GAME 1: OJS vs BRO – OJS 6-1
GAME 2: BRO vs OJS – OJS 5-1
GAME 3: OJS vs BRO – BRO 3-1
GAME 4: BRO vs OJS – OJS 5-1
GAME 5: OJS vs BRO – BRO 6-5 (OT)
GAME 6: BRO vs OJS – BRO 4-2
GAME 7: OJS vs BRO – OJS 5-1
Quarter-finals
(1) CPC vs (8) ROC – CPC wins 4-1
GAME 1: CPC vs ROC – CPC 6-2
GAME 2: ROC vs CPC – ROC 3-2 (OT)
GAME 3: CPC vs ROC – CPC 4-2
GAME 4: ROC vs CPC – CPC 3-0
GAME 5: CPC vs ROC – CPC 7-2
(2) OJS vs (7) PLK – OJS wins 4-2
GAME 1: OJS vs PLK – OJS 5-0
GAME 2: PLK vs OJS – OJS 6-2
GAME 3: OJS vs PLK – PLK 4-2
GAME 4: PLK vs OJS – OJS 4-0
GAME 5: OJS vs PLK – PLK 4-3
GAME 6: PLK vs OJS – OJS 6-1
(3) BRO vs (6) KAN – BRO wins 4-0
GAME 1: BRO vs KAN – BRO 5-3
GAME 2: KAN vs BRO – BRO 5-4 (OT)
GAME 3: BRO vs KAN – BRO 4-3
GAME 4: KAN vs BRO – BRO 4-2
(4) HAW vs (5) CRW – HAW wins 4-3
GAME 1: HAW vs CRW – HAW 4-3
GAME 2: CRW vs HAW – CRW 4-2
GAME 3: HAW vs CRW – HAW 4-3 (OT2)
GAME 4: CRW vs HAW – HAW 3-1
GAME 5: HAW vs CRW – CRW 3-2 (OT2)
GAME 6: CRW vs HAW – CRW 4-3 (OT)
GAME 7: HAW vs CRW – HAW 9-0
