R&T Staff
It was a fast start but a much closer finish for the Brockville Braves on Saturday afternoon.
The Jr. A Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but then had to come back to tie and later defeat the Kemptville 73’s 6-5 in a shootout at the Memorial Centre. It was the opener of a home-and-home to end the CCHL pre-season.
Evan Boucher opened the scoring 62 seconds in on Saturday. Colin Stacey made it 2-0 about 30 seconds later, and Owen Belisle gave the home team a 3-0 lead at 3:05 of the first.
Tyler Laureault remained in goal for Kemptville and would keep the Braves off the board until late in the middle frame. Meanwhile, the 73’s scored twice on power plays in the first, tied the game early in the second and then took a 4-3 lead. Thomas Haynes scored for Brockville at 15:30 to make it 4-4.
Ty Whyte’s power-play goal at 14:46 of the third gave Kemptville the lead, but Boucher’s second of the afternoon evened the score with about three-and-a-half minutes left in regulation. Following a scoreless overtime, Stacey gave the Braves the home win in the fourth round of the shootout.
Kannon Flageolle played the entire game in net for Brockville and picked up the victory. Ryan Donovan replaced Laureault to start the third period. The 73’s outshot the Braves 35-30.
Johnny Howie, Brock Krulicki, Evan Beaudry and Hunter Brazier scored the other Kemptville goals.
The rematch is set for the North Grenville Memorial Centre on Sunday at 4 p.m.
The CCHL regular season opens Thursday. Brockville’s home-opener with the Ottawa Jr. Senators is on Friday night. Kemptville will host Pembroke Friday night.
This year’s Jr. A season is 55 games, down from 62 in 2019-2020.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
