PHOTO courtesy icelevel.com
Carlos Verde
OTTAWA, ONT. —
A heroic performance from goaltender Connor Hughes was rewarded by a Justin Cmunt double-overtime snipe on Friday night at the Jim Durrell Complex, where the Carleton Place Canadians scored a nail-biting 3-2 win over the Ottawa Jr. Senators to claim a 3-1 lead in the Bogart Cup final.
“It’s huge, we only played 30 minutes of real good hockey and sometimes you need your goaltender to come up with a fantastic game,” said Carleton Place head coach Jason Clarke, whose team was outshot 47-23 by the Jr. Sens. “Ottawa had us on our heels, but this one’s Connor Hughes’s tonight.”
Cmunt opened the scoring for the visitors at the 15:09 mark, rapping a close-range effort past Ottawa netminder Ian Andriano.
The Jr. Sens would equalize through Nicolas Samson just 3:41 into the middle frame, then take the lead midway through the third period on a slick Devon Daniels finish.
A desperation-time goal from Canadians forward Connor Hill with just over two minutes remaining in regulation then forced overtime.
Then, after a number of quality saves from Hughes and despite Ottawa outshooting Carleton Place 11-3 over the course of 22:41 of overtime, Cmunt won it on a 2-on-1.
Capitalizing on a mistake from Ottawa captain Geoff Lawson, Cmunt held, held and sniped on the ensuing 2-on-1 to earn the Canadians a 3-1 series lead.
“It was probably our best game of the series,” said dejected Ottawa head coach Marty Dagenais post-game. “We brought our A-game, dominated long periods of play, but in overtime anything can happen — a mistake by one of our defensemen, and we’re down 3-1. It is what it is.”
Carleton Place will gun for its fourth-straight Bogart Cup in Sunday’s Game 5 — puck drop is slated for 3:30 p.m. at the Carleton Place Arena.
