CHRIS UHLIG
Hockey fans got treated to not one but two games this week. While one game entertained viewers with qualitative great hockey to watch, the other didn’t extend past the culinary equivalent of a bland burger with a small side dish of greasy fries.
Thursday saw the Bears take on the Brockville Braves in an unusual late night game at the den. Brockville currently sits at the very bottom of the league with only 20 points at their credit. To put it into perspective, the next nearest team accumulated 41 points already. Needless to say, the Bears faced a highly frustrated team ready for each and every fight. And if the Bears have one great weakness, then it’s them picking up every bad habit from their opponents. In this sense it came to no surprise that the game turned for extended portions into an old fashioned schoolyard brawl. Kyle James scored first at 9:59 in the first period, followed by Travis Quellette at 11:31, bringing the Bears to a good head start. Brockville melted the gap with scores by Jesse Lumsden at 17:15 and by Thomas Cormier 3 minutes into the second period. While this put the Bears back to square one, the rest of the game turned into a single shooting bonanza for the team. Quinn Booth shot the winning goal at 14:12 and Trevor Faucher got the insurance shot at 14:32, causing the Braves goalie to smash his stick to splinters in a rage filled hissy fit. The coaches must have had a stern word with their players during the second intermission, as both teams emerged for the third period with much more disciplined hockey. Trevor Faucher got his second score of the game at the 1:12 mark in the third period, at 9:56 Peter Rosa navigated his puck into the net, and Tyson Parker finished the assault on the Braves’ net with the final score of the game at 13:11.
The Bears easily won with a stunning 7:2 victory over the Braves. As usual, Smiths Falls had hammered their opponent with a staccato of shots on net, 43 compared to 15 to be exact.
First Star went to Quinn Booths for one goal and three assists, Tyson Parker took home Second Star for one goal and two assists, and Jesse Lumsden of the Braves earned Third Star for one goal and one assist.
This brings us to the Friday night game, when the Bears welcomed the Hawkesbury Hawks to a much superior game as the one the previous night. Matthew Dimaline got the first dip at scoring with an unassisted goal at 7:40 in the first period. Julien Wasmer extended the Bear’s lead with a goal at 16:51, assisted by Trevor Faucher and Lucas Culhane. The second period’s lone score came courtesy of Matthew Diamline again at the 7:34 mark, with the assist being credited to Travis Ouellette. Shaymus Stevenson, assisted by Tyson Parker and Julien Wasmer, guided the puck into the net for the last score in the game at 17:04 in the third period.
Smiths Falls finished the game with a well deserved 4:0 shoot-out win over the Hawks.
Bears goalie Dawson Labre got the First Star awarded for 28 saves, Matthew Dimaline earned Second Star for two goals, and the Hawks’s Alex Fournier went home with Third Star.
Both teams showed very close numbers for shots on the net, 28 for Smiths Falls and 27 for Hawkesbury.
The two wins allow the Bears to solidify their standings. In the Robinson Division they stand with 65 points at the first spot with Renfrew lagging behind by 8 points. The team is still sitting in second spot overall, six points behind Navan and four points ahead of Cornwall.
Next Friday will see the Bears measuring up against the top team in the league, Navan.
