Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
It was back to being an up-and-down weekend for the Brockville Braves.
After upending second-place Ottawa at the Memorial Centre on Friday night to extend their winning streak to four games, the Jr. A Braves lost 6-2 to the Grads in Navan on Sunday afternoon. Brockville enters the final week of play in 2025 tied for sixth with Navan in the 12-team Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).
The Braves got on the board first on Sunday. William Rob scored at 7:21 of the opening period. It was the defenceman’s second goal of the season.
Owen Knight scored on a power play to make it 1-1 at 14:14, and Josh Kaufman gave the Grads the lead at 4:37 of the second period. Matthew D’Urso scored what would prove to be the game-winner at 14:13 of the middle frame, and Wake Purdy gave the home team a three-goal lead 48 seconds before the intermission.
A power-play goal early in the third from Mathieu Paris made it 5-1 for Navan, and Braydon Lindsay padded the Grads’ lead just over two minutes later.
Jack Lowry of the Braves scored his fourth goal of the year later in the third to close out the scoring. Navan outshot Brockville 41-37.
Cooper Flemming picked up the win in net for the Grads. Nate Galbraith started between the pipes for Brockville and was replaced by Austin Caley after the sixth goal.
First star went to Navan’s Shayle Simons, who had three assists. Knight and Rob were named second and third stars.
The Braves and Grads have 28 points, but Navan has two games in hand on Brockville.
It was all Braves in the first period against the Jr. Senators at home Friday. Matthew Vohra’s seventh goal of the season made it 1-0 three minutes into the opening frame. Brockville went up by two at 13:45 on Dryden Dervish’s fourth goal of the year. Jesse Lumsden scored his sixth goal of the campaign to give the Braves a three-goal lead 65 seconds before intermission.
Affiliate player Sam Nolan got the start in net for Ottawa. He was replaced by Evan Grant to start the second period. The Jr. Senators got on the board at 4:10 on a goal by Josh Lachappelle, and Isaac Rice made it a one-goal game at 16:46 of the middle frame.
Dervish’s power-play goal 23 seconds before the break gave the home team a two-goal advantage. Vohra put the game out of reach with an empty-netter at 18:18 of the third.
The Braves outshot the Jr. Sens 27-20. Caley picked up the win in net for Brockville.
Vohra, who had a four-point night, was named first star. Second star went to Dervish, who chipped in with one assist. Lachappelle received the third star.
A crowd of 345 was on hand at the Memorial Centre.
Vohra racked up 14 points in his first 14 games with Brockville after being acquired from league-leading Rockland in October.
The Braves’ final game of 2025 at the Memorial Centre will be against County Road 29 rival Smiths Falls on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The third-place Bears went 9-0-1 in their last 10 games.
The first time the teams faced each other this season, Brockville was blanked 4-0 in Smiths Falls in November.
Showcase time
All 12 teams in the league will play twice at the CCHL Showcase in Rockland this weekend.
It will be a quick turnaround for Brockville after playing on Friday night. The Braves will take on Hawkesbury (11-13-3-1, tied for eighth) on Saturday afternoon at 1:15. The Hawks will not have played since Wednesday night.
Brockville will end 2025 at noon Sunday in a rematch with Navan (12-8-3-1).
Original Story at Recorder.ca
