Tim Ruhnke – Recorder & Times
They were up 3-0 on the road but came home with nothing to show for it.
The Brockville Braves lost to the Grads in Navan on Sunday afternoon. After giving up three goals in the first period, the Grads stormed back by scoring six of their own in the second and going on to win 7-4.
The Jr. A Braves had opened the long weekend by routing the Pembroke Lumber Kings 8-2 at the Brockville Memorial Centre on Friday night.
Entering play on Family Day, Brockville was tied with Carleton Place for eighth place in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) standings, one point behind the Renfrew Wolves. The Braves had two games in hand on Renfrew and six on Carleton Place with four weeks to go in the regular season.
The top eight teams will advance to the playoffs.
The Braves faced the Colts in Cornwall on Monday afternoon. All 12 teams in the league were on the ice on the holiday.
Brockville got off to a great start against Navan on Sunday. Kimani Eccleston’s sixth goal of the year gave the Braves a 1-0 lead at 1:09 of the opening frame. Brockville went up by two at 14:07 when Aidan Carolan scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season. The Braves made it a three-goal lead at 16:39 when Hugo Brisebois scored his ninth of the year.
That led to Navan goalie Edouard Blais getting the hook; he was replaced by Cooper Flemming. Brockville outshot the Grads 16-5 in the first 20 minutes.
The script flipped in the second period, as Navan began outshooting the Braves and racking up the goals. The Grads scored five times in less than six minutes, starting with a goal by Josh Kaufman at 8:35. Jacob Carroll made it 3-2 at 10:16 and then Braydon Lindsay evened the score 33 seconds later. That led to Brockville goalie Jake Galbraith getting the hook; he was replaced by Austin Caley.
Brody Robertson gave Navan the lead less than two minutes later, and Matthew D’Urso made it 5-3 less than two minutes after that. It was followed on a power play just before intermission by Kaufman’s second goal of the period.
Shots in the middle frame were 16-7 in favour of the Grads.
Navan padded its lead on a power-play goal from Mathieu Paris at 12:33 of the third period. Brockville rounded out the scoring at 13:43 on Matthew Vohra’s 14th goal of the season.
The Braves ended up outshooting the Grads 31-25.
Shayle Simons racked up four assists for Navan and was named first star. Second star went to Kaufman. Eccleston, who chipped in with three assists for Brockville, received the third star.
With the win, the Grads moved two points ahead of Cornwall and into fifth place.
Two nights earlier at home, it was Brockville that poured it on in the second, against last-place Pembroke. After a scoreless first period, the Braves scored seven in a row. Vohra had two goals in the middle frame, as did Brisebois. Carolan, Jack Lowry and Ryan McNally also scored for Brockville. Solomon Tucker put the Lumber Kings on the board late in the second.
Vohra made it a hat trick in the third period. Maxim Delage scored Pembroke’s other goal to round out the scoring.
The Braves outshot the Lumber Kings 54-30. Caley picked up the win in net. Jack Ferguson started between the pipes for Pembroke but was replaced by Carter Zomers after Brockville’s sixth goal.
Vohra, Brisebois, McNally and Carolan had four-point nights. Vohra and Brisebois were named first and second stars. Third star went to Tucker.
A crowd of 287 was on hand at the Brockville Memorial Centre.
Brockville (18-19-1-4 after Sunday’s game) will host Hawkesbury on Friday night at 7:30. The Hawks are in 10th place and were trailing the Braves by four points entering play Monday. Brockville had three games in hand.
The Braves will play in Ottawa on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Jr. Senators were 28-12-1-2 and fourth overall going into Monday.
Original Story at Recorder.ca
