Braves push win streak to 10 games – Recorder & Times

Jonathon Brodie – Recorder & Times
It was a long game that extended the Brockville Braves long streak.

The Braves beat the Pembroke Lumber Kings 3-1 at the Memorial Centre on Friday to extend their win streak to 10 games.

Brockville’s recent win was a little more chippy than the rest of them. It started slow in the first period with a few rough plays between whistles. In the second period it escalated even more, culminating to blood pouring out of Parker Casey’s nose as a result of a spirited fight with Pembroke’s William Searle.

The extracurricular activities between the teams forced the game to run long with the matchup clocking in at about two and a half hours.

“It’s not a pretty game,” said Braves coach Jesse Winchester when asked his recap of the game. “We got the job done to extend our streak. The boys played hard, but it wasn’t a great hockey game. It wasn’t the level of speed and stuff that’s been on display for most of our games. I think our guys’ effort was there, but it was just everything was bogged down.”

The first goal came five minutes into the second period when the puck bounced right to Eric Faith sitting in the slot and he took a wrist shot that went over Jake Smith’s blocker.

The Lumber Kings are likely going to be steamed for awhile on the Braves second goal that came with less than three minutes left in the second period. Pembroke coach Dale McTavish called for two Braves players to be put in the penalty box, but the refs sent just one with Fred Allaire going in for goalie interference. McTavish voiced his displeasure and he was handed a penalty, putting it to 4-on-4 on the ice, instead of the 5-on-3 the coach wanted. The Braves won the next face-off and Faith was sent streaking down the left wing to net his team-high eighth goal of the season.

Brockville extended their lead less than three minutes into the third period when Emerick Nadeau took a shot from the blue line and Garrett McArthur got a couple of whacks at the rebound with the second attempt finding the back of the net.

The Lumber Kings scored with less than seven minutes left in the game with a goal from Connor Warnholtz, but by that point it was too late.

Overall, it was a gritty game between the Braves and Lumber Kings with large chunks of it played along the boards. With Brockville becoming known for their speed, it seemed like an advantage for Pembroke in helping them slow down the game.

Also, slowing down the game were the 16 power plays called by the referees. No goals were scored on the man-advantage by either team, though.

The Braves travel to Pembroke to take on the Lumber rings on Sunday at 3 p.m.

KILLER INSTINCT

The Braves are keeping the pedal to the metal. Except for Thursday’s 4-3 road win against Kanata where they gave up two unanswered goals in the third period, Brockville doesn’t seem to have any trouble putting away teams in the last 20 minutes.

Although both teams scored a goal in the final frame, the Braves were all over the Lumber Kings in the third period. Brockville created more turnovers, they were quicker, and started to play more of their game in the third period with some extra speed.

All that seems to be a recurring theme for the Braves.

Over the course of this 10-game win streak, Brockville has out-shot their opponents 125-95 in the third period and have out-scored them 13-4. The Braves have only allowed 14 goals over their entire hot streak.

FOLLOW THE LEADER

The Braves aren’t just winning games, they’re pretty much winning them from start to finish. In 605 minutes of hockey, the Braves have only trailed for 33 minutes and 28 seconds (in the last 10 games).

On top of it all, they’ve only trailed in two of their last 10 games.

“I think for the most part it’s just a product of play for the first 40 (minutes) and be able to roll our lines and coming in waves and then opening it up when the other team is tired,” said WInchester. “It’s simple.”

RISING IN THE RANKINGS?

Brockville didn’t move from the No. 9 spot in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s top-20 rankings from last week’s standings to this past week’s release.

After making their debut on the chart two weeks ago at the same spot, another win to their record couldn’t bump them up in the latest rankings.

The Braves have now added two more wins to their total this week and they still have to play Sunday. You have to think Brockville might be on the edge of making some serious noise in the rankings. This past week’s top-20 media release highlighted Inouk de Granby’s 9-1-1 record to start the season, which helped them surge to being No. 2 in Canada. Brockville’s record is now 11-1-0-0 and they haven’t lost since Sept. 2.

“We acknowledge (the CJHL standings) at practice when it comes out. Our kids are motivated and I think it’s day-by-day, we want to win the games that we play. I think that’s the mentality now. We have no control over who’s going to rank us or where,” said Winchester. “It’s a credit to the kids in how they play, but I think more importantly it’s just that desire to want to win each game, not just to keep a ranking.”

Original Story at Recorder.ca