Strong 40 minutes helps Canadians beat Nationals

By: Daniel Vazzoler

The Carleton Place Canadians capped off a long week of hockey with a 4-1 win against the Rockland Nationals on Sunday.

For 12 members of the Canadians, the schedule had hockey on eight of the past 10 days as they represented the CCHL at the Eastern Canada Cup Challenge and played six games in the three-day event. For the entire team, Carleton Place had games on the Friday and Sunday before the tournament and then came back to games on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We were very good [Sunday],” said Canadians coach Jason Clarke. “Hats off to those that played nine games in seven days.”

The team didn’t let fatigue be an issue on Sunday as it scored four unanswered goals to start the game and outshot Rockland 29-12 in the first two periods of the game.

“We came out way stronger than the last two games,” said Travis Broughman. “We’ve been starting out a little slow, but [Sunday] we came out pretty strong and did what we needed to do.”

Sam Allison got the scoring started early with the lone power play goal for Carleton Place on seven tries in the game. Allison set himself in the slot and slipped the puck past Zachary Roy 5:07 into the first period.

Zach Tupker added to the lead less than two minutes later, taking advantage of the turnover from the Nationals goaltender for the goal.

In the second period, Ben Tupker made it a 3-0 advantage for Carleton Place with a deflection goal and Broughman added a short-handed goal late in the period on a breakaway chance, taking advantage of a fortuitous bounce to create the opportunity.

With players coming in and out of the lineup recently for Carleton Place, Clarke has had to change up some of the lines in the forward group. One of the lines that was grouped together on Sunday was the line of Broughman with the Tupker twins.

“They get the puck deep, love to work behind the net, try to hit anybody in the high slot or get the puck up to the D real quick to get shots on net,” Broughman said of his new line-mates.

Through the first two periods, Mike Leach wasn’t tested too often, but that changed in the third period where Rockland managed to get 14 shots on goal in the final frame.

“The guys came out real hard in the first and second period, I only had 12 shots in the first two periods … we didn’t let them get too many shots from the slot,” Leach said. “You approach every shot the same, whether it’s five or 14, you’re always thinking about the next shot and trying to stop that one.”

He ended the game with 25 saves on 26 shots, with the lone goal coming on a scramble play where the Canadians were frantically trying to clear the puck from the edge of the crease. With bodies all around the net, the puck bounced to Cameron Scrivens and he found a lane for the puck to get through and into the net to end the shut-out bid with 7:35 remaining.

Leach’s contributions weren’t just in the crease as he managed to pick up an assist on the Broughman short-handed goal for his second career assist in the CCHL.

“I just got lucky kind of,” he said chuckling. “I flicked the puck up and it got to Joey (Warywoda). He chipped it out to Broughman and he made a really nice move and beat the goalie.”

The Canadians are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to face the Nepean Raiders before another road game on Friday against the Smiths Falls Bears. After the game against the Bears, the Canadians will get a much-deserved rest with a full week in between games.

While the Canadians have been winning games, the power play has been a struggle recently – going 2-for-21 over the past four games. According to the Canadians staff, part of the problem has been a lack of a net front presence when on the man advantage.