By: Daniel Vazzoler
The mantra for the Carleton Place Canadians has been worry about the effort and the results will follow.
On Sunday, Carleton Place was rewarded for its hard work against the Brockville Braves and picked up a 3-2 win at the Carleton Place Arena.
The Canadians picked up three of a possible four points in the week-end set against the Braves after Friday’s 4-3 shoot-out loss in Brockville, but the Canadians coaching staff saw an improvement in the team’s effort and consistency over the games.
“I thought [Sunday] was a great game, probably the best two games I can remember in a long time,” Canadians assistant coach Steve Maxwell said. “The boys were engaged, we battled and we got the right result this time.”
Zach Tupker and Ryland Mosley each had two-point games to lead Carleton Place to victory in a game that was billed as a match-up between two of the top teams in the CCHL – and two of the top goalies in the league with Connor Murphy and Liam Souliere going against each other.
Souliere was the busier of two goalies as the Canadians peppered him with 35 shots in the game, including 27 in the first two period – Murphy faced seven shots in the opening 40 minutes of the game.
Tupker scored late in the first period with the Canadians on the power play and Curtis Abbott tied the game in the second period, but two Carleton Place goals 0:45 apart proved to be the difference on Sunday.
Mosley, who scored what ended up being the game-winning goal said the Canadians were able to get more traffic in front of Souliere than the did in Friday’s loss.
“I think we just beared down in front of the net, banged in a few goals and got in front of the goalie because he was playing hot,” Mosley added. “We got some good shots and played a good 60 minutes.”
Tupker gave Carleton Place a 2-1 lead with a 4-on-4 goal midway through the third period, snapping a wrist shot off the post and in. Mosley and Tupker were on the ice together and Mosley had his shot blocked, the rebound kicked over to Tupker, leading to his goal.
The Canadians top line of Mosley, Tupker and Ben Tupker not only led the way offensively but, according to coach Jason Clarke, the line also paced the effort of the team – which he says has been the case since putting the line together.
“They just compete,” he said. “I’d like to see them finish checks the odd time, but they compete. They get to the right areas, they get sticks in the right lanes and they find each other very quickly, they don’t hold on to pucks too long. If they create a turnover, they look to move the puck right away. It’s been a good line and they just need to make sure they continue to compete.”
Zach Tupker added to his coach’s comments, saying his line-mates make the game easy for him with their skating ability as a group.
“They’re always in the right spots and they all make really good, heads-up plays.”
Tupker said the week-end’s performances against Brockville sends a message to the rest of the league showing the type of game the Canadians want to play consistently.
“We play hard, we play strong, we play fast, we play a physical game and that on any night we have a good chance to win,” he said.
Clarke, however, said the message actually is sent to his own team and not the rest of the CCHL.
“What it does is raises the bar for our own team. When you play against the number one team in the league, it’s important you play hard. Practice next week will obviously be elevated a little bit because our team has set the standard a little bit higher. We played against a really good team so we need to make sure we keep meeting that standard.”
As a team, the Canadians aren’t in action again until Thursday with a road trip to face the Cornwall Colts on the schedule. Before then, nine Carleton Place players are part of the CCHL Robinson division team at the Eastern Canada Cup All-Star Challenge.
In fact, Sunday’s game featured 15 players from this team:
From the Canadians:
- Connor Murphy, G
- Cade Townend, D
- Brett Thorne, D
- Elliott McDermott, D
- Eastan Eckert, D
- Ben Tupker, F
- Zach Tupker, F
- Ryland Mosley, F
- Andrej Hromic, F
From the Braves:
- Simon Mack, D
- Philippe Gilmour, F
- Tyler McBay, D
- Fred Allaire, F
- Eric Faith, F
- Liam Souliere, G
