CCHL This Week

By Jeff Maguire

Rick Dorval would like to see more people come out to see his Ottawa Junior Senators play their home games. The way the team has played so far this season in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) certainly invites fan interest, especially with the National Hockey League lockout showing no signs of ending any time soon.

Dorval, the head coach and general manager of Junior Senators, has guided his team to an impressive 13-6-1-0 record in the Yzerman Division of the Tier 1 Junior A hockey league. As the CCHL campaign reaches the one-third mark Sens are tied with crosstown rival and defending league champion Nepean Raiders for first place in the highly competitive Yzerman loop.

Playing at home Sunday afternoon Raiders blasted Kanata Stallions 8-1 to complete a perfect 3-0 week. Going back to their home ice triumph over Gloucester Rangers the previous Sunday, Raiders have now won four in a row to move into a points tie with Junior Senators. Both clubs had 27 points Monday although Nepean, who has played one less game, gets the nod for top spot by percentage points.

“The guys are playing really well right now,” says Raiders’ head coach and GM Peter Goulet who is currently in Toronto as a guest coach at the Team Canada East training camp. He, along with Cornwall Colts’ coach and GM Peter MacInnis, are assisting the Team East coaching staff which includes Pembroke Lumber Kings’ head coach and GM Sheldon Keefe.

The coaches have the unenviable task of whittling a training camp roster of 60 players, from five Tier 1 Junior A leagues across eastern Canada, down to a 22-man roster for the seventh annual tournament next month. The six team international event will be staged in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Nov. 5-11. Team Canada West and the United States have each won three gold medals in the event with Canada West the defending champions.

“I’m confident this will be Canada East’s year,” Goulet says. “We have some very good players here this week. The camp wraps up Wednesday.

“There will definitely be some good representatives from our league on the final roster,” he states.

Sixteen CCHL players, including three of Goulet’s own players from Nepean, are trying to win spots on the final roster.

Meanwhile the veteran coach is thrilled to see his Raiders winning in his absence.

“Allan (Charbonneau) and Scott (Cowie) were behind the bench Sunday and the kids responded really well for them,” Goulet observes.

“Every point is important in our league this season.”

Ottawa, who as mentioned are now tied with Nepean, is 3-1 in their last four outings. The only loss was a 3-2 overtime setback at home Saturday night in the second game of a home and home series with Hawkesbury Hawks of the Robinson Division. Sens edged Hawks 7-6 in Hawkesbury Friday night and they scored a 2-1 home ice win over the visiting Brockville Braves Wednesday at Jim Durrell Recreation Complex.

Better attendance

Dorval is hoping to see his team’s good record and the intense rivalry with four other Ottawa-based teams in the same division translate into better fan attendance.

“We’re playing well and this is a great brand of hockey. It would be nice to see more people at our games, that’s for sure,” Dorval said Monday.

“Who knows, maybe the (NHL) lockout will help us eventually if it continues to drag on.”

Traditionally the five Ottawa clubs in the 12-team CCHL have suffered from fan indifference. They are in a tough position because the NHL Senators dominate the sports scene in the nation’s capital, followed by the two Major Junior teams in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Ottawa 67’s compete in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and this season and next they will play their home games at Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL team, while their arena is renovated as part of the massive Lansdowne Park sports, commercial and residential project in downtown Ottawa.

Meanwhile Gatineau Olympiques play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) which is also a step above Tier 1 Junior A.

Both the 67’s and Olympiques are off to poor starts in their respective leagues. The 67’s have the worst record in the 20-team OHL while Gatineau is currently 16th in the 18-team QMJHL.

Junior Senators are currently last in the CCHL in fan attendance. Kanata is 11th and Nepean 10th, while Gloucester Rangers sit in eighth place. The Navan-based Cumberland Grads are the most respectable Ottawa team in terms of attendance, standing seventh on Monday morning.

Dorval is hopeful that the NHL lockout, the indifferent play of the region’s two Major Junior teams and the competitive race in the Yzerman Division of the CCHL will help the cause in the coming weeks and months.

“It’s no surprise that Nepean is playing so well. That can only add to the rivalry,” the Junior Sens’ coach and GM observes.

The teams have met just once this season to date. Senators won 7-6 in a shootout at the Nepean Sportsplex back on Sept. 30. Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 21 at the Jim Durrell complex, Junior Sens’ home arena.

“We are playing some really good hockey. We outplayed our opponents (Hawkesbury) Saturday and lost in overtime. But that sort of thing will happen from time to time,” Dorval outlines.

“If we continue to outplay our opponents, over time we will start to get the bounces,” he predicts.

“But we will have to continue to win in order to stay in the mix. So we’ll be ready for our next opponent Gloucester on Friday night. Game-time at Earl Armstrong Arena in Orleans is 7:30 p.m.

There were some entertaining games played in the CCHL on the weekend. Sunday afternoon the visiting Carleton Place Canadians shook off two losses last week to double Cumberland Grads 4-2 and move within four points of league leading Smiths Falls Bears in the Robinson Division. Bears were surprised 1-0 by the last place 73’s in Kemptville Sunday night.

Cornwall Colts, who downed Kemptville 3-1 Friday, were edged 2-1 in overtime by Gloucester Sunday afternoon. Colts remain third in the Robinson, two points behind Carleton Place.

Pembroke Lumber Kings, who split their weekend games, are a close third in the Yzerman race with 26 points while Kanata, who won two of three games last week, is hot on their heels with 25 points. Stallions, however, have played one more game than Pembroke, two more than Ottawa and three more than division leading Nepean.

Sunday action

Kemptville 1 – Smiths Falls 0: The first place Bears were blanked by near neighbours Kemptville Sunday night in the most surprising game of the week in the CCHL. Billy Cooper earned his first ‘0’ of the season as front running Smiths Falls was shutout for the first time this season. Kemptville scoring leader Lucas Gonu netted his 11th goal of the campaign at 9:22 of the opening stanza. Cooper made that goal stand up with a 34 save performance including 14 stops in the second period alone. Kemptville tested Jimmy Howe 30 times in the Smiths Falls cage. Howe yielded only the Gonu goal to suffer his fourth loss in eight decisions. There were just seven minor penalties called in the fast, well played contest. Five of those went to the home team but Bears misfired on all five powerplay chances. Despite the win 73’s still have the lowest points total in the league.

Nepean 8 – Kanata 1: The rampaging Raiders leapfrogged Ottawa and took over top spot in the Yzerman Division, easing past the visiting Stallions Sunday afternoon. Nepean struck four times in the first and added four more in the middle stanza to win skating away. Brandon Lane, who was outstanding in leading Kanata to a win over Carleton Place Friday, was replaced by back-up goalie Brayden St-Germain after yielding all four Nepean goals in the first period. Lane took the loss even though St-Germain was no luckier in the middle stanza! Forward Brandon Watt and defenceman Vincent Llorca led Raiders’ attack with two goals and two assists apiece. Keenan Hodgson also netted twice for the winners. Blueliner Llorca has an impressive 15 points including nine helpers in 17 appearances this season. Kanata’s Connor Cobbold ruined Ryan Mulder’s shutout bid with his fourth goal 11 minutes into the final stanza. Raiders’ defenceman Stephan Beauvais and Stallions’ centre Cameron Blakely were ejected for fighting in the second period. Blakely picked up a pair of misconducts. It was a testy affair with Kanata defenceman Teddy Suckow also banished for fighting in the third period.

Carleton Place 4 – Cumberland 2: Despite falling behind early, after back-to-back goals by Grads’ Trevor Packard, Canadians rallied to double the home team and move within four points of Smiths Falls in the Robinson Division race. With the win Carleton Place (12-7-1-0) also improved their league-leading road record to an impressive 9-3. After Packard struck twice in exactly three minutes, just past the midway mark of the opening period, it was Alex Globke who got the visitors on the board with his eighth of the campaign in the dying seconds of the stanza. Stephen Baylis in the second period and Alex Frere in the third had powerplay strikes for Carleton Place. Baylis wrapped it up with his fifth goal into the empty Cumberland cage with 24 seconds remaining. Canadians outshot Grads by a wide 41-18 margin. Reilly Turner turned in a strong effort between the pipes for Cumberland and earned second star honours. Globke, who also had an assist, was the first star. Carleton Place defenceman Larry Smith chipped in with three assists giving him 13 points including 10 helpers in just 10 appearances for the club. Canadians were three for seven with the man advantage.

Gloucester 2 – Cornwall 1 (OT): Centre Patrick White had the winner as improving Gloucester squeezed past Colts and moved into eighth place in the overall league standings. White’s fifth marker of the campaign came with just 59 seconds left in overtime. Despite the loss Cornwall remains a solid third in the Robinson Division. Rangers (9-11-0-2) got a first period powerplay goal from Matt Rosebrook who now has 11 tallies and 17 points in 15 games since joining Gloucester in a four player trade with Kemptville. The second period was scoreless. But left winger Andrew Ming, with his second of the season, tied the contest for Cornwall with only 1:22 remaining in regulation to force the extra session. Corey Durocher had two assists for the winners who outshot Colts 31-30 in the very competitive contest. Gianmarco De Meis won his fourth game in 11 decisions while Jordan Piccolino (6-5) was the hard luck loser in Colts’ cage. 

Hawkesbury 3 – Ottawa 2 (OT): Goalie Brock Crossthwaite made 41 saves to lead visiting Hawkesbury past the Yzerman leading Junior Senators Saturday night. Ottawa outshot the visitors by a big 42-20 margin but Crossthwaite, the veteran back-up goaltender for Hawks, was outstanding as he recorded his first win of the campaign. Crossthwaite, who joined Hawkesbury in a trade with Kanata late last season, had lost all three of his starts heading into Saturday’s contest. He was especially sharp in the second period when he kicked out 15 shots. Left winger Pietro Antonelli was the offensive star for Hawks. He tied the game with his sixth goal of the season during a powerplay at 10:24 of the third. Just 10 seconds into the mandatory five-minute overtime session Antonelli deposited the winning goal behind Sens’ net minder Charlie Millen. Travis Meyer opened scoring for the visitors in the first period while Derek Brown and Hunter Racine netted powerplay markers two minutes apart in the second period to give Ottawa a temporary advantage. Two Hawkesbury players and one from Ottawa were ejected for their parts in two separate fracases in the second period.

Brockville 4 – Pembroke 3: Braves earned two important points to give them 19 in as many games with a win over the Lumbers Kings in Pembroke Saturday night. Braves solidified their hold on fourth place in the Robinson Division while the Pembroke loss leaves them a point behind co-leaders Nepean and Ottawa in the Yzerman at the start of this week’s action. Pembroke led 2-1 after one period and the sides were deadlocked 2-2 after 40 minutes. Left winger Erik Brown netted twice for the winners including the tying goal during a Brockville powerplay at 8:24 of the third. Cory Wilson’s third goal of the campaign with 3:58 left was the winner. Jonathan Power had the only goal of the second period for Braves while high scoring defenceman Keegan Harper paced the Pembroke attack with a pair of powerplay tallies. Harper has 15 points including six goals in 21 games. Brockville outshot Pembroke 30-27 with Cody Karpinski the winning goalie. Darren Smith suffered the loss between the pipes for Lumber Kings. 

NOTE: Jeff Maguire was away on vacation last week. A full list of CCHL game summaries will return in his column next Monday!

Jeff Maguire is a career journalist based in Carleton Place. He has covered junior hockey in Ontario for 41 years. Jeff’s report will appear on the CCHL website every Monday throughout the season. He can be reached by e-mail at: jeffrey.maguire@rogers.com