By: Daniel Vazzoler
After picking up a win in the first game back from the break, a few moments cost the Carleton Place Canadians in their 5-2 loss on Sunday to the Navan Grads.
Roughly 0:30 ended up being the difference on Sunday as the Canadians, twice, allowed goals just over 10 seconds apart. Carleton Place fell behind with goals from Noah Carpenter and Michael Urgo that were scored 0:13 apart in the first period. Midway through the second period, after the Canadians tied the score, Blake Hall scored 0:17 after Owen Parsons to restore the two-goal advantage.
Aside from those defensive lapses, Carleton Place kept a foothold in the game as long as it could. The Canadians had a chance to build on the momentum of Friday’s win early on Sunday with a power play in the first four minutes of the game. Instead, the finishing woes that nearly cost the Canadians in the previous game showed up and prevented them from grabbing the early lead.
A few minutes after the spoiled man advantage, the Grads took advantage of a poor Canadians break-out pass. Jackson Pundyk stopped the initial chance but Carpenter squeezed his shot from the left-wing circle through Pundyk and into the net at 8:18 into the period.
Navan wasted no time in adding to the lead, taking the centre-ice face-off into the Carleton Place end before Urgo found the open ice in the slot and beat Pundyk on the blocker side.
Carleton Place responded with some quick-strike of their own.
Will Soloway cut the deficit in half with 5:05 remaining in the first period. Off a won offensive zone face-off, Soloway got behind the Grads defenders and provided a screen in front of Braedyn McIntosh. McIntosh stopped Brandon Walker’s long shot but Soloway’s screen limited his ability to control the rebound. Soloway got it first and chipped it over the goaltender’s right leg for the goal.
Then, just 0:22 into the second period, Mathieu Fehr tied the game with his first goal with the Carleton Place Canadians. What was a two-on-one rush turned into a two-on-none opportunity when a Grads defender fell while trying to pivot. Soloway hit Fehr with the cross-crease pass and he beat McIntosh with the one-timer to make it a 2-2 game.
Carleton Place and Navan traded chances throughout the middle frame, with the shots favouring Navan 22-12 in the period.
Ultimately, the goals from Parsons and Hall at 9:01 and 9:18 respectively proved to be the difference. After allowing the pair of goals, the Canadians struggled to gain momentum and Navan spent most of the time in the attacking zone. The pressure turned a Blake Butler goal to make it 5-2.
After the day off on Monday, Carleton Place is back at it on Tuesday with a game against the Kemptville 73’s as part of the Showcase event going on in Kemptville that day. This game is the last of three on the road before returning to the Carleton Place Arena on Friday when the Canadians host the Renfrew Wolves.
