CHRIS UHLIG

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry warns not to approach Bears or face grave danger and harm, as the hungry animals awaken from hibernation and are looking for food and playoff wins. The Carleton Place Canadians didn’t heed this warning and barely limped out of town alive Friday night, while the Bears feasted on a juicy 7:2 win.

Before the game got underway, the team honoured Jessi Neal of Smiths Falls in a red carpet ceremony in front of 480 visitors for bringing home a bronze medal in 5-pin bowling at the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, held earlier from February 27th to March 02nd in Calgary. Joan Culliton from the Bears management noted that “The event brought together over 1,250 Special Olympics Athletes , Coaches and Support Staff from across Canada.”

Smiths Falls got of to a strong start in the game with a goal by Julien Wasmer at 2:57 in the first period, assisted by Lucas Culhane and Shaymus Stevenson. Julien then went on to sink in the second score with a powerplay goal at 8:44, assisted by Hunter O’Brian and Quinn Booth. However the team lost a bit of their mojo afterwards and Carleton Place took up the slack. Noah Kinloch Varga used a wide gap in the Bears defense to nail a short handed goal, much to the Bears’ surprise and Carleton Place almost but not quite managed to repeat that feat during the same Bears penalty a second time, however goalie Dawson Labre was more prepared this time.

William Boucher levelled the scoreboard for the Canadians 1 minute and 12 seconds into the second period with a powerplay goal. The Bears however managed to turn the tide with a powerplay score at 9:31 by Matthew Dimaline, assisted by Quinn Booth and Lucas Culhane, and the team never looked back and started to steamroll the Canadians into the ground. The insurance shot came courtesy of Alec Hamedy late in the period at 18:56, with the assists credited to Owen Watson and Kyle James.

Shaymus Stevenson hammered in the next score just 50 seconds into the third period, with the assist going to Lucas Culhane. Julien Wasmer wasn’t done yet either and flung his third puck into the Canadians net at 4:02, assisted by Peter Rosa and Kyle Dagg. Carleton Place now decided to switch goalie Aidan Fddema for Ian Vandenberg, but the damage was already done. The honour of the final game score later went to Hunter O’brian with a powerplay goal at 11:53, assisted by his buddies Kyle Dagg and Finnegan Kilmurray.

Smiths Falls pounded the Canadians with 43 shots at the net versus 22 for Carleton Place for a well deserved 7:2 win.

Julien Wasmer earned unsurprisingly First Star for three goals that night, Lucas Culhane took Second Star for three assists and Noah Kinloch Varga earned Third Star for his goal for the Canadians.

Update: The Bears added a 4:3 double overtime win Sunday afternoon in the second game against Carleton Place. Travis Ouellette shot the game winning goal at the Carleton Place arena.