Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
The Brockville Braves knew going into their home game with Smiths Falls on Friday night that they would be seeing a lot more of their County Road 29 rivals. As a result of sixth-place Renfrew picking up one point in a 4-3 overtime loss in Cornwall Thursday night, it was confirmed that the Jr. A Braves will finish the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) regular season in seventh place and will face the second-place Bears in the opening round of the playoffs, which start next week.
Before Friday, Smiths Falls won all four of its previous games with Brockville this season and outscored the Braves 21-6. Brockville, which clinched a playoff berth earlier this week, will end its regular season at home on Sunday night when the Braves host Rockland at the Memorial Centre at 7:30.
The Nationals, meanwhile, locked up first place weeks ago and were 49-3 heading into their home game with the Cornwall Colts on Friday night. Cornwall and Carleton Place were tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with one game to go. Carleton Place played in Navan Friday night. If the Colts and Canadians are still tied as of Saturday, that would set up a play-in game between the two teams. CCHL tiebreaker criteria would be used to determine the home team; Cornwall had the advantage entering play Friday. Whichever team gets the eighth spot will face Rockland in the best-of-seven quarter-finals.
The Smiths Falls-Rockland game that was postponed Wednesday night is now to be played in Rockland on Monday night, the CCHL indicated on Friday.
Where the other playoff teams will be seeded is also to be decided this weekend. The Ottawa Jr. Senators were in third place one point ahead of the Kemptville 73’s. If those two teams are tied at the end of the regular season, Kemptville would be the third seed. Both will have home-ice advantage in the opening round. The 73’s got closer to third on Wednesday night by blanking the Jr. Senators 5-0 in Ottawa. Rylan Donovan picked up his league-leading sixth shutout, and it was Kemptville’s ninth shoutout of the season.
Jacob Kulas scored twice for the 73’s and was named first star. Kemptville hosted last-place Pembroke on Friday night and will finish the regular season in Nepean against the 11th-place Raiders on Sunday afternoon. Ottawa will play in Renfrew Saturday night and end the season at Pembroke Sunday afternoon. Navan was in fifth place as of Friday morning, one point ahead of Renfrew. If those teams are tied at the end of the regular season, Navan would win the tie-breaker and be awarded the No. 5 seed.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
