After an emotional loss the night before, the Carleton Place Canadians didn’t have much time to shake it off as they were off to face the Pembroke Lumber Kings on Wednesday night.
Climbing back from a four-goal deficit in the third period on Tuesday to the Renfrew Wolves just to see a potential – and much-needed – point slip away with a regulation loss appeared to have an effect on the Canadians.
Despite trading chances early on, the factor of the Canadians having games on back-to-back nights may have played a role in Jesse Kirkby opening the scoring 5:11 into the game. Kirkby won a race to a loose puck against a pair of Carleton Place defenders and created a breakaway opportunity for himself. On the break, Kirkby got netminder Brady McEwan out of position and beat him to break the scoreless tie.
Carter Vollett added to the Lumber Kings lead by banking his centring pass off of McEwan later in the opening period before Jace Letourneau extended the advantage to 3-0 2:11 into the second period with his first goal of the season.
Similar to Tuesday night, the Canadians wouldn’t back down easily.
Derek Hamilton got Carleton Place on the board with a power play goal shortly after the midway point of the second period. Brandon Walker’s shot from the blue-line couldn’t get through the bodies in front of Reece Proulx and the rebound deflected to Hamilton at the bottom of the left-wing circle. From a short angle, Hamilton found the lane to get the puck on net and just inside the post to make the score 3-1 before the intermission.
Marco Iozzo scored early into the third period to give the Canadians most of the final frame to try and level the score. The quick Carleton Place forecheck forced Proulx to turn the puck over to Ethan Woolsey behind his own net and Iozzo had an open net waiting for him after the pass from below the goal-line.
Despite its effort, Carleton Place couldn’t get another one past Proulx and were dealt another close defeat as the comeback came up just short on a second straight night.
Carleton Place will look to bounce back from those losses with a pair of home games over the weekend. First, the Navan Grads visit the Carleton Place Arena on Friday night before the Rockland Nationals come to town on Sunday afternoon.
