Canadians move on to semi-finals by eliminating Rockland

By: Daniel Vazzoler

The Carleton Place Canadians are one step closer to a fifth consecutive Bogart Cup after eliminating the Rockland Nationals on Saturday with a 7-2 win in Game Five for a 4-1 series victory.

Slow starts were a bit of a theme for Carleton Place in the series, and it happened again on Saturday, but the Canadians fought back to score three goals in the second period and three more in the third to ensure the teams didn’t need to head back to Rockland for Game Six.

“I liked the way we skated tonight, with and without the puck,” Canadians coach Jason Clarke said. “We took a lot of time and space away (from Rockland) and created a lot of good offensive opportunities … we started off the series really well and kind of struggled through the series, but we ended it really well.”

As it was in Game One of the series, the Canadians special teams helped determine the outcome of Game Five. Carleton Place scored five of its seven goals with the special teams on the ice – going 3-for-7 on the power play and added a pair of short-handed goals in the third period.

“We talked about how important special teams were throughout the series and they were good for us all series long. That was a big key for us winning the series in five games,” Clarke said.

Former Canadian Shawn Kennedy gave Rockland the strong start they would have wanted on the road, scoring a little more than a minute into the game, but the Canadians power play leveled the score shortly thereafter.

Quick passes from Aidan Girduckis and Geoff Kitt got Carleton Place from its own zone up into the Rockland end of the ice and sent Nick Pryce in on the rush. Pryce took the puck in behind the net and looked to use the wrap-around to get the goal. The puck slid along the goal-line and, with Sean Storr unable to get the post in time, it deflected off the Nationals goalie and into the net.

The tied score carried over into the second period until Tim Theocharidis gave Carleton Place the lead 7:24 into the period with a quick shot off the face-off win by Keenan Reynolds.

Antoine Leblanc tied the game at 2-2 just over six minutes later as he chipped a loose puck in the slot past Michael Leach.

Then the Canadians power play struck again.

With 3:41 remaining in the second period, Matthew Vermaeten got called for a double-minor high sticking penalty and Carleton Place took full advantage of it. Theocharidis scored what stood to be the game-winning goal with a long wrist shot from the blue-line. Storr got a piece of the puck with his blocker, but it bounced off the blocker and just underneath the cross-bar, knocking the water bottle on top of the net to the ice.

Sam Allison doubled the Canadians lead, capping off a beautiful pass from Sam Knoblauch that found a way through the maze of bodies in the passing lane. Allison took the pass right on his tape, had time to find the open space in behind a sliding Storr and hit it with a well-placed wrist shot.

“Puck movement (was the key),” Allison explained. “We’ve got to move the puck around, get traffic to the net and shoot the puck a lot, and that’s how we had our success.”

“Keeping our power play simple and not trying to make the cute play is the best thing,” added Theocharidis, Carleton Place assistant captain. “When you’re getting shots on net, (good) things may happen and pucks are going to go in the net. It gave the guys a little bit of confidence going into the third period and thinking we just had to keep the pressure on, playing it simple and keep our feet moving.”

An early penalty against the Canadians looked like it would have been a chance for the Nationals to get some momentum to start the third period. Zach Tupker halted any thoughts of that with a short-handed goal for a three-goal advantage.

Cade Townend hit the empty net with Carleton Place short-handed with 6:04 remaining and Justin Cmunt added another goal late before the game, and the series, came to an end.

“We were a little slow on the starts and by the end of the game we were where we needed to be,” said Theocharidis reflecting on the series. “Rockland’s a physical and fast team, we had to keep them to the outside, protect the middle in the ‘D’-zone and play simple. Chip pucks when we had to and make plays when the plays were there.”

Now the Canadians wait to see how the two remaining quarter-final series play out before knowing who they will face in the second round. What they do know is there will be plenty of time for rest before the semi-finals begin.

“(The rest) will be huge for us,” Clarke said. “(Jeremie) Forget is hurt, we’ve got some guys that are banged up, it was a tough series and Rockland played us really hard. It’s going to be good to have a couple of days off.”

Playoff Matchups Around the League

* = if necessary

BOLD = higher seed home game

(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 leads 3-2

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 – 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 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 leads 3-2

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 – Sun., Mar. 25 – 7:00 p.m.

GAME 7: HAW vs CRW – Tues., Mar. 27 – 7:30 p.m. *