Tim Ruhnke – R&T
The Jr. A Braves will be looking to get back their scoring touch.
After being blanked at home by Renfrew on Friday night, Brockville dropped a 3-1 decision to the Lumber Kings in Pembroke on Sunday night. The Braves are now 8-9 and remains ninth overall in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).
Pembroke scored first on Sunday. Pratt Stetson made it 1-0 at 12:08 of the opening period. The Lumber Kings went up by two on Colin Vassallo’s goal at 14:10 of the second.
The Braves cut the lead in half on a power play at 4:33 of the third on Colin Elliott’s fifth goal of the season. Brockville goalie Philip Rondina headed for the bench with just over two minutes to go in regulation, but Cam Hicklin scored into the empty net to give Pembroke a 3-1 lead with about 64 seconds left on the clock.
The Braves outshot the Lumber Kings 36-22. Ben Forget made 35 saves to pick up the win in net for Pembroke.
Vassallo, Forget and Elliott were named first, second and third stars respectively.
Brockville had also outshot Renfrew at the Memorial Centre Friday night but was unable to get one past Wolves netminder Sebastian Resar. Aditya Mehta scored what would end up being the game-winner for Renfrew at 9:36 of the first period. It was his second goal of the year. Trent Scullion’s second goal of the season made it 2-0 in the second.
Brockville goalie Sami Molu went to the bench with about 2:40 left in regulation. Renfrew captain Tyson Tomasini put the game out of reach with his ninth goal of the year – an empty-netter – at 18:29 of the third.
Resar made 30 saves to pick up the shutout for Renfrew. Molu was tagged with the loss.
Resar was named fist star; second star went to teammate Joey Kennelly, who had two assists. Elliott was named third star.
“There’s times when you need to give the opposition goalie credit… but I also felt we made it easy on him,” Brockville head coach Randy Jones said in an interview. “Shooting from the perimeter… we didn’t earn it the hard way.”
A similar issue arose in Pembroke on Sunday. Although Jones was happy with the defensive effort for most of the game, he thought the Braves needed more high-quality chances on offence.
“We were’t hungry enough around the net,” the coach remarked.
Brockville has a road game in Hawkesbury on Tuesday night. The Hawks dropped to 9-5-1-3 with a 4-1 loss in Navan on Sunday.
“Hopefully, we play with some desperation,” Jones stated. “We’re in a situation where we don’t have games to waste… it’s not that early in the season any more.”
The Braves will host Kemptville on Friday night. The 73’s (6-8-3) are one point behind Brockville in the standings.
Donations in support of the Kinsmen Snowsuit campaign – snowsuits, hats and mittens – will be collected at the Memorial Centre on Friday night. “Healthy Essentials” bags of hygiene items in support of The Pier Church’s Christmas program will also be collected by the Braves at their home game on Friday.
The second-place Smiths Falls Bears (13-5-0-1) will host Carleton Place (10-5-0-1) on Friday night. The Bears fell off the CJHL’s weekly top 20 list of Canadian Jr. A teams on Monday.
Last year’s CCHL MVP, Sean James of the Bears, leads the league in goals (18) and points (29). Brockville’s Luke Tchor is tied for fourth at 24 points.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
