Bogart Cup Preview | Ottawa Junior Senators vs. Carleton Place Canadians

Carleton Place, ON – Tonight the Carleton Place Canadians host the Ottawa Jr. Senators in Game 1 of the Bogart Cup Championship Series. Listed are the scheduled times and places of the series.

Game 1, Friday Apr 13 – CP Arena: 7:45

Game 2, Saturday Apr 14 – Jim Durrell: 7:30

Game 3, Monday Apr 16 – CP Arena: 7:30

Game 4, Wednesday Apr 18 – Jim Durrell: 7:30

Game 5, Saturday Apr 21 – CP Arena: 7:45

Game 6, Sunday Apr 22 – Jim Durrell: 7:30

Game 7, Tuesday Apr 24 – CP Arena: 7:30

This is the third consecutive year that Ottawa and Carleton Place face each other for the Bogart Cup. Carleton Place was able to win in seven games in 2016 and in five games last year. Carleton Place won their two series against Rockland in five games and then swept Hawkesbury in the Semi Finals. With Ottawa’s game seven win on Wednesday, Carleton Place goes back to the Fred Page Cup for a fifth straight year.

Ottawa is coming off a long series against Brockville and were able to prevail in seven games. In their Quarter Finals matchup, they were able to beat Pembroke in six games. Ottawa is hosting the Fred Page Cup in three weeks between May 2nd to 6th but first it’s the big rivalry in all of Canadians Junior Hockey. It’s been heartbreak for Ottawa in the last two years and look for different results than last year.

Season Series:

Carleton Place Canadians 7, Ottawa Jr. Senators 3 – Fri Sept 8

Carleton Place Canadians 3, Ottawa Jr. Senators 1 – Mon Oct 9

Carleton Place Canadians 3, Ottawa Jr. Senators 2 SO – Wed Nov 1

Ottawa Jr. Senators 2, Carleton Place Canadians 1 – Sat Jan 6

Carleton Place Canadians 2, Ottawa Jr. Senators 1 OT – Sun Feb 25

Carleton Place won their season series four games to one. Two games went to either Shootout or Overtime. These teams haven’t played each other since February 25th when Carleton Place outplayed Ottawa and were able to win in Overtime. Expect this series be close games with one goal contest being key in this series.

Who to Watch

Nick Lalonde, Owen Guy and Gabriel Morin. This line has been on fire since the playoffs started. Lalonde had four goals and five assists in the seven games against Brockville. He did score a big goal to lead by two and never looked back. He’s more of a goal scorer but he only had 10 assists in the first series but is proven to be a goal scorer in these playoffs. Guy only scored twice but has lots of speed as a centre but was able to help his team by collecting seven assists. Morin has been playoff magic for Ottawa. He has 6 goals, 5 assists with 11 points in the playoffs. He’s a guy that can pressure the defense and look for open guys when Ottawa has an opportunity going on goal. This is a line to look out for in this series.

As for Goaltending, they will look to Connor Hicks if Ottawa has a chance in this series. He sat out Game 3 and played six games against Brockville. He has a 2.11 GAA and .913 SV% in 12 games in the playoffs. In one of his games against Carleton Place, he made 40 saves in OT loss. Expect Hicks to face lots of shots in this series. He didn’t face much shots against Pembroke and Brockville.

Samuel Knoblauch, Tim Theocharidis, Aidan Girduckis and Justin Cmunt. Despite Knoblauch having more PIm in the playoffs on the team, he has been a big contributor in the nine games for Carleton Place. He has four goals, twelve assists. He is known to be a 2 way forward both becoming helping his teammates with goals plus being a goal scorer. He had 35 goals in the regular season with 87 points. Expect hime to be a big factor in this series.

Tim Theocharidis and Aidan Girduckis. Possibly one of the best D-Pairs in the CCHL. Every time a player enters the defensive zone they do not allow them to go pass by them. They poke it off their sticks and get possession to start on the attack. These two can also become factors on the power play. They rank #1 in the post season. Theocharidis has 12 points and Girduckis with 10 points in these playoffs.

Justin Cmunt was a reason why Carleton Place won the Bogart Cup Finals. He has five goals in the post season. He scored two goals in Games one and four last year. He can been known as a playoff performer after the regular season. As for Goaltending, with Forget out of the lineup they’ve had to rely on Michael Leach and has not loss in regulation in these playoffs. Throughout the five regular season games, Forget has been in net. It marks the first time that Leach will have to face the Ottawa Jr. Senators all year. He has 1.60 GAA and .936 SV%.

The Verdict

Expect lots of games to be one goal contests. Carleton Place was able win by one goal in game two against Hawksbury while Ottawa hasn’t been able to win by one goal. The wins that they had were by four goals or more. Staying out of the box will be key in this series. These two teams don’t like each other, expect lots of scrums after whistles. Both goalies will need to be sharp to win the Championship this year.

-30-

Written by: Mason Detre, CCHL Communications Intern