Here’s your Raiders weekend recap.
Saturday, Feb. 18, the Raiders welcomed the Leamington Flyers to Alcott Arena in what would be the clubs’ fourth meeting of the season. Georgetown was riding a four-game winning streak heading into this match with high hopes of continuing the winning affairs.
Leamington got off to a hot start, leading 2-0 after the first period and 3-0 shortly into the second. Georgetown seemed a little slow out of the gate, and Leamington was ready to attack. Nicholas Townsend got the Raiders on the board just over halfway through the second period, but the Flyers countered shortly after to take a 4-1 lead to the dressing rooms after 40 minutes of play.
The Raiders certainly had chances and showed signs of life, but the Flyers always seemed to end a Raider push with a goal to kill momentum being generated. Leamington added two more tallies around the halfway point of the third to take a 6-1 lead. However, the Raiders managed to flip the switch in a big way, starting with a Kristian Lamanna goal at the 13:46 mark of the third.
The Raiders gained some life from this, and kept chipping away and gaining momentum for the third. This resulted in two Kaleb Nelson goals scored 11 second apart with under two minutes left in regulation! 6-4 was the score, the Raiders now full of energy and pressing hard to get two more.
Leamington managed to keep the Raiders at bay for the remaining minute and a half, albeit not without Georgetown almost scoring many times. Quinn Tavares managed to pot one with one second left in regulation to bring the score to 6-5, where this contest would end.
For the Raiders, a positive to take was the level of fight that was shown in the back half of the third period. It would have been easy to pack it in down 6-1, but Georgetown was determined not to do that. Scoring four goals inside of 10 minutes is a crazy feat, and the only thing that would’ve made it better was tying the game and getting a point at least in overtime.
It was a rare off night for Raiders netminder Aiden Berry, who let in four goals on 18 shots on net. Finn Marshall made a relief appearance in net, stopping 12/14 shots. A bit of a wild game for Georgetown, but some positives nonetheless.
Monday, Feb. 19, the Raiders travelled to Stouffville for a face-off with the Spirit. This was the first and only meeting of the season for Georgetown and Stouffville.
This was a slower, more controlled start to a game for Georgetown. Both sides generated chances, but it felt like Georgetown seemed to be in control of the pace of play and the puck more-so. Gabe Ciarallo buried his 13th of the season to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead under two minutes into the game, and that’s where we stood after 20 minutes.
In the second period, it was Jack Gallo getting his first shorthanded goal and second goal of the season to put Georgetown up 2-0. The Spirit would answer with a goal to cut the lead to 2-1 shortly after. John Mitchell gave the Raiders a 3-1 lead at the 8:45 mark of the second. Again, another period of controlled, even-flow play from the Raiders. Capitalization of opportunities presented was a key point in this game.
In the third, it was Teddy Puccini tucking his 13th of the year to put Georgetown up 4-1. Puccini was ejected from the game for what the referees determined to be inciting an opponent, a 10-minute misconduct, after he scored the goal. Nevertheless, his goal put Georgetown up by three and the Raiders wouldn’t look in the rearview mirror.
The score remained until Spirit Andoni Fimis took a high-sticking minor penalty on Brandon Kakei that resulted in a penalty shot for the Raider forward. Kakei made no mistake and buried his 16th of the campaign. The goal counted as a shorthanded penalty shot due to the Spirit penalty on the previous play. 5-1 is where the game would end.
This was a massive victory for the Raiders over an opponent they had not played this season. Getting back on track with a controlled, defensively-responsible 5-1 win on the road is impressive and helps put the 6-5 game from Saturday in the rearview. The Raiders got into some penalty trouble in the third as mentioned, but aside from that, a fairly complete game for Georgetown. Finn Marshall stopped 23/24 shots on net in the win.
After this weekend’s action, Georgetown now sits in solo possession of fifth place in the West at 57 points and a 26-19-1-4 record. The Raiders are just four points back of Buffalo for fourth place, and just two points up on Burlington, who resides in the sixth spot. A close race to the finish for many teams in the conference is on deck.
The next Raiders game is Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Mayfield Recreation Complex in Caledon against the Admirals. Tune into the action on flohockey.tv at 7:30 p.m.
The next Raiders home game is this Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m., as the Raiders welcome the Collingwood Blues to town. Tickets are $15 at the door, which opens at 7 p.m. See you there!
