By: Daniel Vazzoler
Two goals 1:37 apart Sunday afternoon changed a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead for the Carleton Place Canadians against the Brockville Braves.
After Carleton Place beat the Braves 3-1 in Brockville on Friday, the Canadians had a chance to sweep the week-end series on Sunday at the Carleton Place Arena. But it was Brockville who started Sunday’s game strong, beating Jeremie Forget twice to take an early 2-0 lead after the first period.
“I thought we played pretty well. We first came out a little soft, we knew coming home in the home-and-home that we had to play hard (because) they were going to play hard after our win on Friday in Brockville,” Canadians assistant captain Tim Theocharidis said.
He added it was a case of not executing to the team’s full capabilities in the first period that helped Brockville take advantage of some Carleton Place mistakes to take the lead.
Nicolas Vlahos ensured the Braves didn’t waste a four-minute power play early in the first period. He beat Forget high on the glove-side with a well-placed wrist shot tucked just under the cross-bar for a 1-0 lead 7:31 into the game.
Throughout the first period, Carleton Place struggled to move pucks with consistency – having some passes intercepted by Brockville and whiffing on a number of other attempts.
That ended up costing the Canadians late in the first frame. While on a power play of their own, the Canadians tried to exit their own zone, but a fanned-on pass created a breakaway for Eric Holland from the blue-line in. The Brockville forward deked to his backhand and put his shot right into the top part of the net for the two-goal lead heading to the intermission.
“In between the periods, the guys stayed calm,” Theocharidis said. “We didn’t let our lows get too low and we just executed what needed to be done (in the second and third periods).”
After getting the night off on Friday, the Braves started Nick Wiencek on Sunday and he was tested in the second period. He and Forget faced 10 shots each in the opening period, but then the Canadians started to gain control of the game, peppering Wiencek with 16 shots in the middle frame.
It took 19:02 for all the shots to pay off, but they finally did when Travis Broughman got the Canadians on the scoreboard with a wrap-around goal that cut the gap down to one goal.
Carleton Place couldn’t translate that goal into momentum early in the third period, but the Canadians kept the pressure on Brockville in the final period and with 4:34 left in regulation, Aidan Girduckis tied the game with a shot from the blue-line that clanged off the post and deflected into the net to beat Wiencek.
Then, with 2:57 on the clock, Zach Tupker deflected the Theocharidis wrist shot up and past Wiencek for what ended up being the game-winning goal.
“Ben (Tupker) got the puck down low, he threw it up to Tim and I just tried to get to the front of the net,” Tupker said, describing the play leading to his goal. “I tried to take the goalie’s eyes away and then just lucky to get my stick on the puck and tip it upstairs.
“Whenever you get that come-back win, it shows a lot of adversity, a lot of grit so it’s nice to get the two points,” he added.
Carleton Place won’t have much time to reflect on its victory as it is back in action on Family Day Monday when the Smiths Falls Bears visit the Carleton Place Arena for an afternoon game on the holiday.
