By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians began their play-off series with the Navan Grads on Sunday and picked up a 4-1 win to claim a 1-0 series lead.
After a tight-checking first period, the Canadians got goals from David Gagnon and Andrej Hromic in the second period. Ayo Adeniye and Ben Tupker scored on either side of a Jesse Lycan third-period goal while Connor Murphy made 17 saves in the win.
“In the first period, the two teams were kind of feeling each other out and I thought, after the first, both teams started to play the way they wanted to and we just happened to put the pedal on the gas,” Canadians coach Jason Clarke said. “The second period was our best period out of the three for sure.”
If the first game is any indication of what the series is going to be like between these two teams, expect a lot of physical play and battles along the boards. Leading the way for the Canadians in that aspect was Cole Beckstead, but the team also had the line of Gagnon, Keenan Reynolds and Jackson Sterrett have a strong effort on Sunday.
“It’s my fourth year of junior and I’ve got a lot of miles on my tires but I definitely try to play a playoff style of game – physical, hard-nosed hockey – so hopefully other guys follow suit and I can keep it up,” said Beckstead.
“I think during a playoff series you’re going to have good games and bad games,” Clarke added. “Not everyone is going to play well every game, so certain guys have to step up on certain nights and we had that [Sunday].
“We had some guys that, didn’t play poorly, but didn’t play their best and we had some guys play really well. Hopefully on Monday we have somebody else step up and play a good game and the others keep playing well,” Clarke continued.
While the Grads kept the game close into the middle period, the two goals 1:21 apart from Gagnon and Hromic swung the momentum of the game in Carleton Place’s favour.
“Hromic’s goal was the game-changer for sure,” Clarke said. “(Peyton) Francis made a really good play on the wall and chipped it out […] Hromic coming back from a serious injury and only playing seven or eight of our final 10 games of the year, it was really good to see him get that goal and really boost his confidence with the game he played.”
The series continues on Monday with no day off between Games One and Two and the schedule is loaded up at the beginning with a potential of five games in seven days.
“Clarke works us enough that (fatigue) shouldn’t be a problem for us. We’re in the gym every day, we’re running (so) we should be conditioned and ready for this,” said Adeniye.
Meanwhile, the way the Canadians use all their lines also helps reduce the risk of tiring out as the series, and the entire play-offs, carry on.
“It’s really important that you’re able to play all four lines and all six defencemen. I thought we were able to manage ice-time very well [Sunday] and I thought the guys that needed to play in certain situations were able to play. Then when you get the 4-1 lead, then you’re able to play certain guys a little bit differently. I think we’ll be fresh and ready to go for Monday and hopefully we get the same kind of effort.”
Playoff Results
(1) CPC vs (8) NAV – CPC leads 1-0
Game 1 – Mar. 17 — CPC 4 – NAV 1
Game 2 – Mar. 18 — CPC @ NAV – 7:30 p.m.
Game 3 – Mar 20 — NAV @ CPC – 8:15 p.m.
Game 4 – Mar. 22 – CPC @ NAV – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 5 – Mar. 23 – NAV @ CPC – 7:15 p.m.
*Game 6 – Mar. 25 – CPC @ NAV – 6:00 p.m.
*Game 7 – Mar 27 – NAV @ CPC – 8:15 p.m.
(2) OJS vs (7) KAN – OJS leads 1-0
Game 1 – Mar. 17 – OJS 3 KAN 0
Game 2 – Mar. 20 – OJS @ KAN – 7:20 p.m.
Game 3 – Mar. 21 – KAN @ OJS – 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 – Mar. 24 – OJS @ KAN – 6:30 p.m.
*Game 5 – Mar. 25 – KAN @ OJS – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 6 – Mar. 27 – OJS @ KAN – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 7 – Mar. 28 – KAN @ OJS – 7:30 p.m.
(3) BRO vs (6) SFB
Game 1 – Mar. 19 – SFB @ BRO – 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 – Mar. 20 – BRO @ SFB – 7:30 p.m.
Game 3 – Mar. 22 – SFB @ BRO – 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 – Mar. 24 – BRO @ SFB – 8:00 p.m.
*Game 5 – Mar. 26 – SFB @ BRO – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 6 – Mar. 27 – BRO @ SFB – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 7 – Mar. 29 – SFB @ BRO – 7:30 p.m.
(4) ROC vs (5) HAW – ROC leads 1-0
Game 1 – Mar. 17 – ROC 3 HAW 2
Game 2 – Mar. 19 – ROC @ HAW – 7:30 p.m.
Game 3 – Mar. 22 – HAW @ ROC – 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 – Mar. 23 – ROC @ HAW – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 5 – Mar. 25 – HAW @ ROC – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 6 – Mar. 26 – ROC @ HAW – 7:30 p.m.
*Game 7 – Mar. 29 – HAW @ ROC – 7:30 p.m.
