Recorder & Times Staff
It was a good way for the home team to hit the halfway mark of the regular season.
The Brockville Braves defeated the Smiths Bears 3-2 in overtime on Friday night. The Jr. A Braves are back above the .500-mark and are now tied with Rockland for seventh overall in the 12-team Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).
After a slow-ish start at the Brockville Memorial Centre, there was a flurry of activity in the first half of the second period. Bears captain and CCHL points leader Sean James scored his 24th goal of the season at 6:46 to give Smiths Falls a 1-0 lead, but Braves defenceman Josh Cole responded with his first goal of the year just under one minute later. Brockville then took the lead on Eric Barnards’s power-play marker at 8:50.
Smiths Falls had a six-on-four late in the third, when James scored the equalizer with 1:32 to go in regulation.
Lucas Culhane gave the Braves the extra point by scoring his 11th of the season at 2:02 of the extra frame.
Culhane was named first star. Teammate Colin Elliott, who picked up an assist Friday, was the second star. Third star went to James, who now has a five-point lead atop the CCHL scoring race.
Smiths Falls outshot Brockville 33-28. Sami Molu made 31 saves and picked up the win in net for the Braves. Will McEvoy was tagged with the OT loss.
Attendance on a wet-snowy night was 234.
Brockville has won three of its four games with County Road 29 rival Smiths Falls this season.
The Braves (14-13) will hit the road Sunday for a matinee with second-place Navan. The Grads improved to 19-8-2 with a 4-3 shootout win in Kemptville Friday night.
The 73’s are in ninth place at 10-13-3-1. Kemptville will face the Wolves in Renfrew on Saturday night.
The top eight teams at the end of the 55-game CCHL regular season advance to the playoffs.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
