By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians begin the chase for their fifth Bogart Cup championship with a first-round meeting with the Navan Grads.
The series gets underway on Sunday at the Carleton Place Arena at 3 p.m., with the Canadians having home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs as the top-seed in the CCHL post-season.
During the season, the games between Carleton Place and Navan have been close but the Canadians have picked up with the win more often than not. They claimed the season series with a 4-0-2 record against Navan and outscored them 25-21 in the six games.
On the Grads roster, pay attention to defenceman Zack Hoffman. The 20-year-old received a number of league awards, being named the CCHL’s top defenceman and most valuable player and was named to a first-team all-star as well as part of the all-graduate team.
Beyond Hoffman and his 44 points (11 goals, 33 assists) from the blue-line, the Grads offence is primarily driven by Jackson Arcan (52 points – 27 goals, 25 assists) and Alex Robert who, since being acquired from the Rockland Nationals, had 29 points – 15 goals and 14 assists – in 39 games for Navan.
Expect to see the Grads go with Alex Wisco in goal for the series. He joined Navan in late-September and since then has shown he’s one of the top goaltenders in the league. In 29 games, Wisco posted an impressive stat line with a 16-7-4 record, a .936 save-percentage, a 2.25 goals-against average and six shut-outs.
