Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
They were able to celebrate together to start the holiday weekend.
The Brockville Braves overpowered the Navan Grads 7-3 at the Memorial Centre on Friday night. The victory snapped the Braves’ three-game winless streak.
Four weeks into the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) regular season, Brockville (4-2-0-1) is in a five-way tie for fourth in the 12-team Jr. A circuit.
After a scoreless first period Friday, Ryan McNally netted his fifth goal of the season to give the Braves the lead. Peter Legostaev made it 2-0 for Brockville by scoring his sixth of the year on a power play just over one minute later.
Andrew Mark extended the lead at 6:36 of the middle frame by scoring short-handed; it was his first goal as a Brave.
Matthew D’Urso put Navan on the board with a power-play goal at 7:55, and teammate Damien Poulin cut the lead in half 37 seconds later. Liam Harry restored Brockville’s two-goal advantage 41 seconds later on his second goal of the season.
Captain Kayden Buller, whose breakaway led to Mark’s goal, made it 5-2 for the Braves at 9:44 of the third period. Buller now has four goals this season. A power-play marker by Mathieu Paris moved the Grads back within two at 12:07, but Legostaev responded 47 seconds later with his second goal of the night and then Mark put the game out of reach at 17:41 by scoring his second shorty of the contest.
Brockville had a 31-28 edge in shots. Nate Galbraith picked up the win in net for the Braves; Edouard Blais was in goal for Navan.
Mark was named first star. Second star went to Harry, who also chipped in with two assists. Legostaev received the third star for his four-point performance.
A crowd of 392 was on hand at the Memorial Centre.
Navan bounced Brockville from the 2024-2025 playoffs in early April by winning game seven of their quarter-final series.
The Braves will host the Ottawa Jr. Senators (4-2-0-1) on Friday night; puck drops just after 7:30. Brockville will then take on the Kemtpville 73’s (4-4-1) at the North Grenville Municipal Centre on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Kemptville’s lone game of the Thanksgiving weekend was a 4-3 victory in overtime at Hawkesbury on Friday night. William St. James scored the winner 38 seconds into the extra frame. Jay Zeus Mbarushimana, Zach Venance and Anthony D’Arienzo also had goals for the 73’s.
Kemptville outshot the Hawks 36-24. Keegan Carswell picked up the win in net.
First and second stars went to Venance and St. James. Former Brave Vital Dinis had two assists for the Hawks and was named third star.
Kemptville (4-4-1) will visit Nepean (4-5) on Wednesday night. The 73’s will then host Renfrew (3-4-1) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Also in the CCHL on the weekend, the Smiths Falls Bears dropped both games of a home-and-home with the league-leading Rockland Nationals. The Nationals won 6-4 on Saturday night.
Rockland was up 4-0 late in the first period when Peyton Veltkamp scored just before intermission to put Smiths Falls on the board. The Bears got back to within one in the second on goals by D.J. Ott and Caeden Heins, but Rockland was up 6-3 at the end of the middle frame.
Kade Hockenhull cut into the lead at 16:27 of the third.
Smiths Falls was outshot 43-35. Rafael Tremblay made 37 saves for the Bears. Ott, who chipped in with two assists, was named third star.
In the opener in Smiths Falls Friday night, the Nationals upended the Bears 5-3. Gus Rabe scored twice for Smiths Falls; Heins had the other goal. Shots were 41-29 in favour of Rockland. Ayo Ogini was in net for the Bears.
Rockland, the defending CCHL champion and one of the top-ranked Jr. A teams in Canada for more than a year, has won its first eight games of this season and is ranked second in the country by the CJHL this week.
Smiths Falls (4-4-1) will host Nepean Friday night at 7:30 and Cornwall (6-2) on Sunday at 4 p.m. Cornwall received an honourable mention as part of this week’s CJHL national top 20 list.
Even though he was held to just one assist in the Bears’ last three games, Tyson Parker continues to lead the CCHL scoring race with 19 points. McNally has 14 points and is tied for seventh.
Although Legostaev has only played in four games, he has 11 points and is tied for 14th in league scoring.
On Monday afternoon, Legostaev was named the CCHL’s First Star of Week Four. Mark and Veltkamp received honourable mentions.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
