Story by Harper Cotie – File Photo courtesy McLeodsGlass
Buckle up, the Brockville Braves’ road to the Bogart Cup is about to begin!
The task at hand for the 7th seeded Braves is to eliminate the 2nd place Navan Grads in a round one, best-of-seven series. The Grads have been a nice story this season going from 7th, and squeaking into the playoffs last year, to 2nd overall this year. A 23 point improvement. The Braves faced the Grads five times in the regular season, ending up with a record of 2-2-1. You’d have to go back to February 17th for the last battle between these two squads. Colin Elliott sealed the 3-2 victory for the Braves with 10 seconds to go in overtime.
This series should be a close one, and it may come down to two factors in the end, special teams and goaltending. Their power plays are close, with Navan’s finishing 7th, and Brockville’s finishing 8th overall. Plus, we’ll get to see the regular season’s 1st and 3rd best penalty-killing units against each other. As for the net minders, Navan’s Braedyn McIntosh was 1st in wins with 32 this season, while Brockville’s Sami Molu was 1st in shutouts with 5 and won CCHL Goaltender of the Year. Make no mistake about it, these two young men will be critical in this series.
It all starts tonight! 7pm puck drop for game one in Navan.
