Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
It was a good night for the Brockville Braves.
Austin Caley stopped all 48 shots he faced and was named first star in the Braves’ 2-0 win over second-place Kemptville at the North Grenville Municipal Centre on Wednesday. Brockville remains in seventh place in the 12-team Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).
Caley and his counterpart, Kemptville goalie Keegan Carswell, were perfect through the first two periods. The 73’s outshot the visiting Braves 33-21 through 40 minutes; that included a stretch of 13 shots in a row by Kemptville, according to live scoring stats.
Brockville finally broke the scoreless tie at 6:58 of the third on Aidan Carolan’s 14th goal of the season. Ryan McNally padded the Braves’ lead with about 53 seconds to go in regulation; it was his 13th goal of the year.
McNally, who assisted on Carolan’s goal, was named second star. Third star went to Carswell, who made 28 saves.
Each team had several power-play opportunities but was unable to take advantage of them.
A modest mid-week crowd of 146 was on hand at the municipal centre.
It was the second shutout of the season for Caley. He has the best save percentage – 0.924 – among eligible and active goalies in the CCHL, according to league stats. Carswell, who has three shutouts this season, is a close second at 0.922.
The road win improved Brockville’s overall record to 17-16-1-4 and evened its season series with Kemptville 2-2.
Brockville will host Carleton Place on Friday night at 7:30. The Canadians (16-24-1-2) were tied with the Hawkesbury Hawks for ninth place and were four points behind Brockville heading into their game at Cornwall on Thursday night. However, the Braves have multiple games in hand on both the Canadians and Hawks.
After playing Carleton Place, Brockville will take on the league-leading Nationals in Rockland on Saturday night. At 38-2, the Nationals are the CJHL’s top-ranked Jr. A team in Canada.
As for Kemptville (27-14-2-1), the 73’s will host eighth-place Renfrew on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Wolves (17-20-2) trail the Braves by three points and have played one more game than Brockville.
The CCHL regular season ends in mid-March. The top eight teams advance to the playoffs.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
