The Kanata Stallions were robbed of a
victory on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at the KRC.
The Stallions (2-26-1-2) outworked, outshot and outplayed the Carleton Place Canadians (13-16-0-1) through 65 minutes of hockey. But, that wasn’t enough for Kanata to pick up two
points.
Carleton
Place goaltender
Scott Shackell stole the show, stopping all 46 of Kanata’s shots, including four brilliant
saves in the second period. He also stonewalled all four Stallions during the
shootout.
“One guy came out to play for us tonight, and he
won it for us,” said Canadians head coach Jason Clarke.
Clarke said he was disappointed with the rest
of his team’s performance.
“This was the worst game of hockey I’ve seen in
my eight years coaching,” said Clarke. “We can’t take a night off. Kanata
was clearly the better hockey club.”
The Canadians’ hero of the night, Shackell, was also disappointed in his teammates’ efforts.
“Definitely not the best effort from the team,”
said Shackell. “We got to expect more.
It has to be a whole team effort. Any team can come out and beat you any
night.”
Both teams played a disciplined game, resulting
in only three penalties being called.
Kanata
had no penalties called on them, although there was a questionable no-call by a
referee on a Stallions high-stick in the third period.
Stallions assistant captain Brett Ashton had one
of his best performances of the season. He played a smart and aggressive game
of hockey, and his efforts resulted in multiple scoring chances for his team.
Ashton said his team should have picked up the
win.
“We should have won,” said Ashton. “We couldn’t
score. Both goalies stood on their heads.”
The Stallions received their best effort between
the posts all season, courtesy of goaltender Travis Wilkins.
Wilkins did an excellent job of controlling his
rebounds, and turned away all of Carleton’s 38 shots for his first shutout of
the season.
Wilkins biggest save came with just over a
minute and a half left in regulation. He made a phenomenal glove save to ensure
the game went into overtime, and that his team would be awarded at least one
point for their efforts.
Carleton
Place forward Zach
Rodier scored the lone goal of the shootout with some nice stick-handling,
slipping the puck past Wilkins’ blocker side.
Although the game resulted in a loss for the
Stallions, Ashton said his team’s game plan for their next match would not
change.
“Same thing, just outwork the other team,” said
Ashton. “We just need to stick to the system we have in place and we’ll get a
win.”
The Stallions next home game is on Tuesday, Dec.
1 at the KRC against the Gloucester Rangers.