Almonte/Carleton Place
 

Carleton Place Canadians end first season with 5-2 win over Hawks

Posted Mar 11, 2010 By Jeff Maguire
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EMC Sports - Carleton Place Canadians' first campaign in Junior A hockey ended Saturday night and although they won't compete in the playoffs they finished on a winning note. Local fans can now look forward to the club's sophomore season which begins in six months!

Canadians eased past Hawkesbury Hawks 5-2 Saturday night to conclude their expansion campaign in the Central Junior Hockey League (CJHL) with a credible 25-35-1-1 record. That is 10 more victories than Kemptville 73's, the league's previous expansion team, managed in each of their first two seasons. Kemptville will compete in the post season for the first time ever, starting this week, after a surge in the second half of the season carried them past Carleton Place and into the eighth and final playoff spot in the 12-team league. Canadians finished ninth overall.

Playing before 231 fans at community centre Saturday night, the hosts led 1-0 and 4-1 at the intermissions. The clubs traded goals in the final seconds with the last Carleton Place tally going into the empty Hawkesbury cage and Hawks immediately striking back with a late consolation with just two seconds left on the clock.

The victory gave Canadians a decent 15-15-1-0 mark on home ice which means they treated local fans to some excellent hockey in their inaugural campaign, something few first-year teams can boast.

Jason Clarke, the team's head coach, general manager and now the sole owner of the hockey club will be looking to add more scoring punch as Canadians take aim at a playoff place in 2010-2011. The league entry draft is less than two months away. Carleton Place will be looking to add strength for their second season which begins in early September.

Clarke spearheaded Carleton Place's entry into Junior A following 37 years of Junior B hockey here. The former Carleton Place Legion Kings, who ended their nearly 40-year tenure with back-to-back Valley Division titles in the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League, moved to neighbouring Mississippi Mills this season where they became Almonte Thunder.

Watch for a complete analysis of Canadians' first season in the CJHL in a future article in the EMC!

During Saturday night's season finale the same players who carried the club offensively all season went out in style. Scoring leader Tyler Kotlarz clinched the win with his 29th goal, the empty netter in the fading seconds. The right winger ended the season with 57 points. Left winger Richard Stethem hit the 20-goal mark and added two assists to end up four points behind Kotlarz. Both featured in all 62 games for the club this season, the only players on the roster to achieve that distinction.

Centre Ryan Lowe upped his third place standing on the team scoring chart, assisting twice to finish the season with 48 points in 59 games.

Winger Zach Rodier also set up a pair to take his season total to 26 points including 17 helpers. He and Almonte's Luke Martin tied for eighth on the team list.

No. 12 for Hafner

Defenceman Rusty Hafner, one of Clarke's key signings prior to this season, scored goal No. 12 on a second period powerplay. The 19-year-old Toledo, Ohio native tied with local product Donovan Gardiner as the top scorers among team defencemen. Both had 28 points although Hafner had 12 goals to Gardiner's nine. Hafner's statistics were compiled over 60 games while Gardiner made 59 appearances.

Martin fired his 12th goal in the second with affiliated player Damian Armstrong netting his first in 13 games, also in the middle stanza.

Joey House with No. 16 on the season and Jordan Warren with his fourth were the Hawkesbury goal-getters. Centre Julian Quincou assisted on both goals to take his team leading total to 40 points including 15 in 30 appearances for Hawkesbury. Quincou started the year with Gloucester Rangers before being dealt to the struggling Hawks in a December trade.

Saturday's defeat means Hawkesbury finished the campaign with a dismal 12-48-1-1 mark the worst in the league. It marks the second consecutive season Hawks have ended up in the league cellar. But last year they managed only eight wins in 60 games meaning they actually improved somewhat in 2009-2010.

Canadians out shot Hawks 33-24 Saturday to record their fifth win in six regular season meetings with their Robinson Division rivals. Hawkesbury won the opener in the weekend home and home series between the clubs Friday.

Francis Dupuis was the winning goalie making 22 saves. At the other end Philippe Magnan, who shut out Canadians 24 hours earlier, was the losing net minder despite turning aside 28 Carleton Place shots.

Referee Chad White called seven minor penalties, five of which went to the home team. Canadians' Hafner scored on the club's only man advantage situation of the game.

Hawks win

Friday night the last place Hawks finished their home ice campaign on a winning note, blanking Carleton Place 2-0. It was their first win in five tries against the expansion side this season.

The rare triumph made it an even dozen wins for the struggling Hawkesbury team who, as mentioned, finished at the bottom of the league table for a second consecutive campaign.

The home team out shot Canadians 32-29 and held interval leads of 1-0 and 2-0. The third period was scoreless.

Friday's defeat underlined Carleton Place's main problem in their first season in Junior A hockey - lack of scoring. The club had only two players (Kotlarz and Stethem) who surpassed the 50-point plateau.

House and Yanik Laliberte, who ended up second and third respectively in team scoring, netted the Hawkesbury goals.

Magnan earned his first shut out in 45 appearances, turning aside all 29 shots directed his way. His record was 11-29 following Friday's action.

Dupuis was the hard luck loser despite making 30 saves.

Penalties were not a factor with each team picking up three minors.

A crowd of 271 took in the action at Robert Hartley Arena in the Hawkesbury Sportsplex. Despite their horrendous record this season, Hawks ended the campaign sixth out of 12 clubs in total attendance, behind Carleton Place who was fifth overall in that department.

Carleton Place finished the campaign with total attendance of 9,313 in 31 home dates, an average of 300 fans per game. Smiths Falls Bears were fourth with an average attendance of 364 per game. But the rival Bears finished 10th overall in the standings with 40 points to Canadians' 52.

In the Robinson Division race Carleton Place finished fourth, just seven points behind Kemptville. Bears were fifth and Hawkesbury a distant sixth with just 26 points from 62 games.




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