By: Daniel Vazzoler
A three-goal third period for the Carleton Place Canadians on Friday night propelled them to a 5-2 victory over the Kanata Lasers.
Carleton Place entered the third period with a 2-1 lead but Ryan Bunka quickly erased it with a power play goal 0:31 into the third period. Travis Broughman said the Bunka goal changed the emotion on the Canadians bench for the rest of that third period, helping to spark the response.
“We were pissed off,” he said. “We were ready to just start going and start playing hard. We knew we needed a win, (Kanata) came a big W (Thursday) night so we knew they were going to come out flying still.”
According to Canadians coach Jason Clarke, he said Broughman and his line-mates Peyton Francis and Sam Allison got Carleton Place bounced back into the right direction.
“I thought they played really well (Friday). I thought Allison played a fantastic game and was on a lot of in-tight areas. I really liked how Broughman played, he used his speed through the neutral zone really well and took stuff to the net. That was probably our best line,” he added.
Broughman started the stretch of three unanswered goals for Carleton Place, using the wrap-around to beat Kanata goalie Myles Hektor for what stood to be the game-winning goal. It wasn’t the first time in the game he tried the wrap-around, as Broughman – and other Canadians – was unsuccessful with the move earlier in the game.
“The goalie really wasn’t moving halfway through the wrap-around, so might as well take it to the net as much as possible,” Broughman explained.
The scoring got started early on Friday as Connor Hill snapped a shot past Hektor 0:26 into the game. Bennett Stockdale answered back less than a minute later to tie the game early in the first period.
“We were pretty pumped about that goal about 30 seconds into the game and then it was kind of like a mental lapse for their goal,” Canadians captain Geoff Kitt said. “It happens, we haven’t had one in a while. We thought we’d stay positive and stick to it and I thought we had a good rest of the first period.”
The first period was indicative of the work Hektor had to put in down in the Kanata net. The Lasers were outshot 20-7 in the opening frame and ended up allowing 50 shots against Hektor while getting 15 shots on Jeremie Forget.
Justin Cmunt scored late in the first period to ensure the heavy advantage in shots turned into a lead on the scoreboard.
Neither team could score in the second period, a period that Clarke has identified as an issue for his team in more than just Friday’s game.
“We just have a habit of letting off the gas in the second period and kind of let Kanata get back into the game,” he expressed. “Got to give credit to Kanata, I thought they came out hard in the second period after spending most of the first period in their own end and we just didn’t respond. “Then, in the third period, we got right back to work again. It’s just one of those games where we weren’t consistent but we found a way to win.”
Friday’s game was the first for Carleton Place following an emotionally charged week-end filled with rivalry games. This week-end doesn’t carry the same emotions, but players said it was important to avoid a letdown in the game against Kanata.
“Three big wins last week against big rivals in Smiths Falls, Pembroke and Ottawa,” Kitt said. “We’ve got Kanata and Navan this week and not the biggest of rivals but we know we’re going to get everyone’s A-game. We didn’t want to let one slip away after a 3-0 week last week, we just wanted to keep the train rolling and hopefully we can keep it going for the rest of the year here and keep having positive things to look at after the games.”
Carleton Place finishes up the week-end with a home-and-home series against the Navan Grads, starting on the road Sunday afternoon before the two teams head to the Carleton Place Arena for a Tuesday evening match-up.
