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Ottawa Citizen

Napanee Raiders comeback falls one goal short

Article content A two-goal surge in the final 67 seconds of the second period boosted the Hanover Barons into a 4-1 lead and they survived a two-goal assault in the last few minutes of the third to beat the visiting Napanee Raiders, 4-3, and force a seventh and deciding game in their Provincial Junior Hockey League semifinal. Article content With the series now tied 3-3, Game 7 is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. and is expected to be played in front of a full house of 1,000-plus at Napanee's Best and Bash Arena. The winner will advance to the Clarence Schmalz Cup final against the Essex 73s, who beat the New Hamburg Firebirds in the other semifinal, 4-1. Article content Article content Napanee and Hanover traded first-period goals, with Raiders defenceman Erik MacNiel opening the scoring at 7:57 on a power play and Barons forward Mark McIntosh replying 15 seconds later. Article content Article content Curtis Arnold put Hanover up 2-1 at 6:12 of the second period, setting the stage for a late-period offensive outburst that proved to provide the Barons with enough goals for the win. McIntosh, with his second goal of the game and league-leading 21st of the post-season, scored at 18:53 and was followed at 19:59 by Ryan Colquhoun. Article content 'We were playing a very solid game and creating lots of chances in the second period … and in the last two minutes we made two mistakes that led to two goals, simple as that,' Napanee head coach Ben Hagerman said. Article content '(Hanover) is so powerful offensively that they do not need many chances to score, and as soon as we gave them too much time and space and allowed them to skate through the neutral zone, they were able to capitalize, and that was truly the difference in the hockey game.' Article content The score remained 4-1 until the last two-plus minutes of the third period. Napanee's Andrew Carr, at 17:13, notched his team-leading 17th marker of the post-season, and Michael Patrick, at 18:41, tallied to make it a 4-3 game and keep the Raiders alive. A head contact penalty to Christos Chronis 18 seconds later, however, ended the threat. Article content 'I was proud of the way the guys continued to play hard and push to create scoring chances,' Hagerman said. 'We actually had some really good opportunities to score before our second goal as well. After the third goal, we had lots of momentum, and puck possession … unfortunately we took a penalty and that made it really challenging to score.'