Wednesday, February 14th, 2024. 12:25am
It was a well-fought battle right till the bitter end at the Earl Armstrong Arena on
Tuesday night, which saw the Embrun Panthers comeback from a two-goal deficit in the
first period to win this matchup 4-2.
The Jr. Canadians got out to a hot start in the first period with a goal from Reid
Greer (1G) just four minutes in and Nicholas Bell (1G) just over halfway through the
period. The score held 2-0 heading into the second but despite good play on both sides,
Embrun tallied two goals from Justin Raymond (1G) and Benjamin Kay (2G). The final
20 minutes was full of fast-paced end-to-end hockey staying deadlocked until the 1:27
mark when Benjamin Kay notched his second goal of the day. Noah McDonell (1G)
added an empty-netter to seal the victory in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Captain Liam Kelleher (1A), assistant captain Jack Chiarello (1A), and Loui
Alfredsson (1A) also hit the score sheet for Ottawa. Joshua Weekes was the third star of
the game after making several great defensive plays and being physically engaged. For
Embrun, captain Yanick Blanchard (2A), and assistant captain Benjamin Kay took home
the second and first stars respectively.
Joshua Hawken played very well between the pipes stopping 21/24 shots while
making some great saves to keep it a tie game until the final minutes.
The Ottawa Jr. Canadians (27-15-0-1) travel out to Renfrew (14-20-3-3) to take
on the Timberwolves in a Valentine’s Day matchup to wrap up the regular season. Even
though it is a Valentine’s Day matchup, there will surely be no love lost between these
two teams as the playoffs approach.
OJC Media | Kaghlen Roberts
Photo & Graphic | Tyler Cyr
