Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
The home team scored 13 seconds into the game, but the visitors prevailed.
The Smiths Falls Bears defeated the Brockville Braves 5-2 at the Brockville Memorial Centre on Tuesday night. The road win boosted the Bears’ chances of securing the two-seed in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) playoffs.
The Jr. A Braves remained seventh in the standings heading into their game against the 73’s in Kemptville late Wednesday afternoon. Brockville was two points ahead of the Carleton Place Canadians and Cornwall Colts.
The top eight teams at the end of the regular season, which is scheduled to end two Sundays from now, will advance to the playoffs.
The Braves will have five games to go after their road game on Wednesday. Carleton Place and Cornwall have three each.
Hugo Brisebois gave Brockville the early advantage Tuesday. It was his 11th goal of the season.
The lead did not last very long. Smiths Falls went on a power play about two minutes later, and Nick Larkin tied the game at 3:27.
The Bears went up 2-1 when Luka Benoit scored at 18:48. Shots in the first period were 14-11 in favour of the Braves.
It was Smiths Falls that would get the jump to start period two. Benoit scored 13 seconds into the middle frame to give the Bears a two-goal advantage.
Brockville cut the lead in half at 16:50 on Ryan McNally’s team-leading 19th goal of the year.
The score remained 3-2 until 17:09 of the third, when Benoit scored his third goal of the night and 29th of the season. The Braves opted for the extra attacker with about 1:15 to go in regulation. Jacob Smith sealed the Bears’ victory by scoring into the empty net with 36 seconds left on the clock.
Smiths Falls outshot Brockville 25-10 in the second and third periods. Brett Ruddy, the league’s first star two weeks ago who received an honourable mention this past week, picked up the win in net for the Bears. Austin Caley made 31 saves for the Braves.
Benoit, who also chipped in with an assist, was named first star. Second star went to Carter Beauchesne, who had two assists on the night. Beauchesne was the CCHL Source for Sports Rookie Performer of the Month for February.
Brockville’s Carter Cuglietta received the third star.
Attendance at the mid-week game was listed at 122.
The Braves’ next home game is against Nepean on Friday night at 7:30. The Raiders have been eliminated from playoff contention, but they managed to defeat the Bears in Smiths Falls last Friday night.
The County Road 29 rivalry between the Braves and Bears will resume in Smiths Falls on Sunday afternoon.
Leading up to that rematch, the Bears (34-10-2-2) have home games against Hawkesbury on Thursday night and Navan on Friday night at 7:30.
Hawkesbury is on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention. Navan is in fifth place and has clinched a playoff berth.
Renfrew was alone in sixth place entering play Wednesday. The Wolves picked up a point in a home shootout loss to the Ottawa Jr. Senators Tuesday night. Renfrew had a two-point lead on Brockville with five games to go and was four points up on Carleton Place and Cornwall.
Even with the win over the Wolves, third-place Ottawa still trails Smiths Falls by four points. The Jr. Senators had a three-point lead on Kemptville as of Tuesday night.
The 73’s will host regular season champion Rockland – the CJHL’s top-ranked Jr. A team in Canada – on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
