Canadians put forth big effort

brockville. Roger LeBlanc, Canadian Gazette

CARLETON PLACE – The Carleton Place Jr. A Canadians suffered a losing Thanksgiving weekend, dropping games to Gloucester and Brockville, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“One thing we can’t complain about is the work ethic of the guys,” said Carleton Place assistant coach Steve Maxwell. “The boys battled hard both games.”

CARLETON PLACE vs. GLOUCESTER
Carleton Place paid a visit to the Gloucester Rangers on Oct. 9, losing the game 7-3.

“The score wasn’t indicative of the game. It was a solid game,” said Maxwell.

Tyler Kotlarz started the game off with a promising goal just 46 seconds into the first period.

The lead was short lived with the Rangers tying the game just eight seconds later and then notching another goal at 1:45. The first period ended 3-1 in Gloucester’s favour.

The Canadians began the second period with a renewed energy with goals from Richard Stethem midway through the period and from Vincent Buttitta at 14:42. These goals served to tie the game 3-3, but Gloucester was not standing for this game of catch up.

Gloucester’s Sean Blundon took matters into his own hands and notched two goals to end the second frame and put his team up 5-3.

The Canadians played a strong third period, but were not able to capitalize on net despite registering 16 shots.

At the other end of the ice, the Rangers managed to score two goals on just six shots in the final frame.
Canadians goalie Scott Shackell faced 29 shots in total while Carleton Place managed 32 shots on net.

CARLETON PLACE vs. BROCKVILLE
The second place Brockville Braves visited the Canadians rink Sunday afternoon and won a hard fought battle with only 12 seconds left in the game.

“It was a tough one to lose. The boys battled hard all game and it was a shame not to grab a point,” said Maxwell.

The Canadians led off scoring early in both the first and second period and had a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second period.

The second-place Braves registered their first goal at 6:49 of the middle frame and tied the game a minute later.

Stethem scored his second of the weekend with the second period winding down, but the Braves scored with two minutes left in the period to tie the game 3-3.

Brockville seemed to have great chances every three or four minutes in the first two periods. Canadians goaltender Morgan Barr stumbled as he tried to get across the crease leaving the net wide open, but the Braves player fanned on his shot.

Overall, Barr managed to keep his team in the game with some solid, confident play.

The third period followed the rest of the game’s tight pattern with Brockville scoring first at 4:54, but Sam Coyne responded for Carleton Place at 16:22.

With the clock ticking down it seemed overtime would provide the answer, but with just 12 seconds
left Brockville pulled off a win with a goal from Shayne Stockton – who registered a hat trick with the winning goal.

See more Brockville-Carleton Place photos at yourcarletonplace.com.

UP NEXT
Maxwell said the team will work on their power play and penalty killing over the next week before they host Pembroke and Kemptville over the weekend.

The Pembroke Lumber Kings will play at the Carleton Place arena tomo row night at 7:30 p.m. and the Kemptville 73s will visit on Saturday night, the puck drops at 7:30 p.m.  

The Canadians will hold a ‘Carleton Place High School Night’ on Oct. 17.