Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
The County Road 29 rivalry will continue.
The Brockville Braves are set to face the Smiths Falls Bears in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) quarterfinals. The dates and times for Game 1 in Smiths Falls and Game 2 in Brockville had not been announced when this article was published.
The Jr. A Braves finished the 2025-26 regular season in seventh place at 22-24-2-7 (wins-losses-overtime losses-shootout losses). The Bears (39-10-2-3 before their final game) were second in the 12-team league.
Smiths Falls swept Brockville 5-0 in their regular season matchups, outscoring the Braves 26-7. That included a 5-1 decision at the Brockville Memorial Centre on Friday night.
Kade Hockenhull’s power-play goal opened the scoring for the Bears just after the midway point of the first period.
Brockville drew even at 13:39 on Matt Vohra’s 17th goal of the season.
Peyton Veltkamp made it 2-1 for Smiths Falls at 12:46 of the second period. Braden Childerhose gave the Bears a two-goal lead at 17:56.
Nick Larkin scored a power-play goal at 2:47 of the third, and Smiths Falls captain Jackson Heron capped the scoring at 8:14.
Veltkamp, who also picked up two assists, was named first star. Second star went to Heron, who chipped in with an assist. Third star went to Kimani Eccleston of the Braves.
The Bears outshot Brockville 26-21. Logan Heideman was the winning goalie. Oliver Li was in net for the Braves.
Attendance was listed at 412.
Brockville’s final game before the playoffs was a 6-5 shootout loss at home on Sunday night to regular-season champion Rockland Nationals. Absent from the Nationals’ lineup were four of the league’s top-six scorers.
Rockland, which dressed 15 skaters, was to host Smiths Falls in a rescheduled game Monday night.
On Sunday, Theo Landry gave the visitors an early lead at 1:43 of the first period. Mathis Baril made it 2-0 for Rockland at 5:44.
The Braves cut the lead in half on a power play at 11:11. It was Jesse Lumsden’s 15th goal of the season. Lumsden scored a second power-play goal at 12:47.
Barely half a minute later while still on a power play, Brockville took the lead on Eccleston’s eighth goal of the year. Drake Sled gave the Braves a two-goal advantage at 17:04; it was his ninth goal of the season.
William Sasseville scored at 19:09 to draw the Nationals to within one. Quinlan Parry tied the game at 6:32 of the second period, and Sasseville’s second goal of the night made it 5-4 for Rockland at 9:21 of the third.
At 13:10 of the third, Zack Naish was credited with his first goal of the year to even the score.
Sasseville had the lone goal in the three-round shootout to give the Nationals their 51st win of the season.
Shots were 40-34 in favour of Rockland. Ty Ferguson picked up the win in net for the Nationals. Li made 29 saves for the Braves.
Sasseville, Lumsden and Mathis were named first, second, and third stars respectively.
A crowd of 304 was on hand for fan appreciation night at the memorial centre.
Ryan McNally, who picked up a pair of helpers Sunday, led Brockville in 2025-26 in goals (20) and assists (32). McNally’s 52 points have him tied for 12th in CCHL scoring.
Brockville Braves goalie Oliver Li and Smiths Falls Bears forward Peyton Veltkamp eye the puck during the Braves-Bears game at the Brockville Memorial Centre on Friday, March 13, 2026. Veltkamp was named first star in the Bears’ 5-1 win. The County Road 29 rivals will meet in the opening round of the Central Canada Hockey League playoffs. PHOTO BY TIM RUHNKE /Special to the Brockville Recorder and Times
Gabriel Le Houillier of Rockland will win the CCHL scoring title. He had 59 goals and 120 points with one game left on the schedule. Teammate Mavrick Brunet was second with 77 assists and 103 points. Le Houillier was named the league’s outstanding graduating player of the year on Monday morning.
Alex Kelloway, another Rockland forward, is the recipient of the CCHL’s sportsmanship and ability award for 2025-26.
After defeating the Braves on Friday night, Smiths Falls downed the Navan Grads 6-1 on Sunday afternoon. Caeden Heins scored twice for the Bears and was named first star. Austin Bennett picked up the victory in net for Smiths Falls.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators secured the three-seed by shutting out the last-place Pembroke Lumber Kings 8-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Jr. Senators finished one point ahead of the Kemptville 73’s.
Kemptville (36-16-2-1) picked up a pair of shutouts on the weekend to raise its regular-season total to 11.
The 73’s defeated the Raiders 3-0 in Nepean on Sunday afternoon. Travis Ouellette’s power-play goal in the first period was the game-winner. Lucas Achim also scored in the opening frame, and Kemptville captain Gavin McDougall gave the visitors a three-goal advantage in the second.
First star Keegan Carswell made 27 saves and picked up his fourth shutout of the season.
The 73’s had blanked the Lumber Kings 15-0 in Kemptville on Friday night. It was Rylan Donovan’s seventh shoutout of the year, which led the league in 2025-26. The CCHL record for shutouts by a goalie in one season is nine set by Hank Johnson of the Braves a decade ago. Brockville had 10 shutouts in 62 games that season.
Zach Venance had three goals and two assists on Friday. Will Mullins and Lucas Achim chipped in with five assists each.
Kemptville, the three-seed, will now face five-seed Navan in the best-of-seven quarterfinals. The 73’s won three of their five games with the Grads during the regular season.
Ottawa takes on six-seed Renfrew in the opening round. The Jr. Senators went 4-1 against the Wolves during the regular season.
The Carleton Place Canadians claimed the eighth and final playoff spot Friday night in their final game of the regular season, a 3-2 victory in Navan 2-1. Carleton Place had been tied with Cornwall Colts.
The Colts led Rockland in the third period of their season finale Friday, but the Nationals won 4-2.
The Canadians finished the regular season two points behind the Braves and now face the Nationals in the quarterfinals. In going 5-0 against the Canadians during the regular season, Rockland outscored Carleton Place 30-9.
The Colts had a winning record for much of the season but faded down the stretch, picking up just five points in 13 games in February and March.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
