Recorder & Times Staff
It was another loss to the fourth-ranked Jr. A team in Canada.
The Brockville Braves fell 5-2 to the Ottawa Jr. Senators in front of a large crowd of 589 at the Memorial Centre on Friday night. Ottawa has now clinched first place overall in the 12-team Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).
The Jr. Senators opened the scoring late in the first period on Tomislav Brennan’s fourth goal of the season. Ottawa outshot Brockville 17-6 in the first 20 minutes.
Julian Recine made it 2-0 six minutes into the second; it was his 22nd goal of the year. Massimo Gentile extended Ottawa’s lead at 14:55 with his 13th of the season.
Brockville made it 3-1 early in the third. Colin Elliott scored a short-handed goal 52 seconds into the period. It was his ninth goal of the season. Ottawa took advantage of that power play about a minute later on Vincent Velocci’s 15th goal of the year.
Trailing 4-1, Justin Dauphinais scored for the Braves at 13:45 shortly after Braves goalie Sami Molu came off the bench. It was Dauphinais’ 19th goal of the season and eighth with Brockville.
Molu left again at 15:44 for the extra skater. Ottawa captain Thomas Freel put the game out of reach with his 31st goal of the year – an empty-netter – at 18:18.
The Braves were outshot 38-18. Molu made 33 saves in the loss. William Desmarais picked up the win in net for the Jr. Senators.
Recine, Gentile and Elliott were named first, second and third stars respectively.
Brockville lost all five of its regular season games to Ottawa by a combined score of 25-11.
The Braves (34-15-0-2) remain third overall in the CCHL standings. With Renfrew’s 4-3 shootout win in Kemptville Friday night, the fourth-place Wolves are six points behind Brockville with two games in hand.
The 73’s clinched a playoff berth by picking up one point in the shootout loss.
Brockville’s final road game before the playoffs is in Nepean Sunday afternoon. The Braves then have three home games to end the regular season.
Average attendance at the Memorial Centre in 2021-2022 is about 344, down more than 10 per cent from Brockville’s home game average in the pre-pandemic season. The Braves were third in the league in attendance that year, trailing Cornwall and Pembroke.
In other CCHL action Friday night, Smiths Falls shut out Nepean 5-0 but remains five points behind eighth-place Rockland. The Nationals edged Carleton Place 2-1; the Canadians have been eliminated from playoff contention.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
