By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians ended their three-game losing streak on Friday with a 4-2 win over the Kanata Lasers to go into the Christmas break on a winning note.
The Canadians, down a trio of regulars out of the line-up, rode a strong game from Vincent Bujold-Roux and a line of 20-year-olds to the win. Cole Beckstead, Keenan Reynolds and Alex Bourhas were put together and contributed three of the four goals and combined for eight points in the game.
“Every team goes through a slump during the season, but going in (to the break) with a win, you can see guys are lighter on their feet and I think everyone is going into the break in the right mindset,” Beckstead said.
Carleton Place had to come from behind to get the victory over Kanata after Luca Nocita scored the first goal of the game, tipping the shot past Bujold-Roux early in the second period.
The Canadians responded to the goal with three unanswered goals before the end of the second period.
Ryland Mosley got Carleton Place on the scoreboard, snapping a shot past Gabriel Carriere to tie the game. Then just 0:27 later, Beckstead scored his first goal of the game as he showed off his patience while cutting across the crease to find the open net. David Poirier capped off the scoring in the second period.
“We knew that Vinny was going to back-stop us to a great game and we knew that if we kept our standard of play where it was that pucks were going to go in, and it did,” Reynolds said about the bounce-back to end the second period.
The difference-makers on Friday were Beckstead, Bourhas and Reynolds. Beckstead added an empty-net goal for his second of the game, meanwhile Bourhas and Reynolds each had three assists in the game.
“We were just playing the right way,” Bourhas said. “It’s obvious there’s a lot of speed, skill and hockey IQ but we’ve got the work ethic as well. At the end of the day, you’ve got to show up at the rink and play the right way. We did that and we got rewarded.
“I’ve got two awesome line-mates,” he continued,” Reynolds is a great centreman who’s responsible and can skate the puck really well. Cole’s a small, shifty guy, kind of like me, with good vision and good hands. It was just a blend of great 20-year-olds and it worked out in the end. Very excited for what’s ahead in the new year.”
The Canadians are now off the ice and heading home for the holidays for what has been deemed a “much needed break” by members of the team before returning to action in the new year against the Smiths Falls Bears on Jan. 6.
The win ended a losing streak that lasted the previous week and allowed Carleton Place to head into the break on a winning note.
“We’ve built a culture that revolves around playing hard every single game, and that standard had slipped in the last few games,” Reynolds said. “I think guys were looking forward to the break and weren’t focusing on the game. [Friday] we came here, brought our work boots and really took it to them.”
“It was an unbelievable effort from the guys,” added Bourhas. “It’s been an up-and-down past three games but it’s a good way to go out on a good note. We played a full 60 minutes and it was a job well done from top to bottom.”
