Chris Uhlig

Houston, we have a problem. The Bears gave away a comfortable 3-0 lead for a disappointing 4-5 loss against the Nepean Raiders Friday night, the fourth consecutive loss on home ice.
What had happened? Well, the game actually started out really good for the team with Alex DiCarlo, assisted by Joey Warywoda and Ryan Richardson, scoring at the 4.15 mark in the first period. Theo Todd followed at 11.19 with a power play goal, with assists credited to Tate Leeson and Bruce Coltart.

At 15.10 in the second period, Ryan Richardson with help by Theo Todd and Tate Leeson then sent the next puck into the net for a 3-0 lead, again a power play goal. But dark clouds slowly appeared on the horizon when Jackson Clark put the Raiders back onto the scoring board with an unassisted goal a mere seven seconds before the end of the period.

And Jackson Clark continued with a power play score at 2.51 minutes into the third period. The Bears managed to widen the gab again when Tate Leeson used a power play advantage to score at the 4.42 mark, assisted by Ryan Richardson and Mitchell Larabie. But Nepean countered with a score by Geoff Dempster at 9.08, and later, with only 59 seconds left, achieved the tie with a goal sunk in by Owen Dunne.

Geoff Dempster continued on to finish the game in the Raiders favour with the final score of the evening at 3.23 in overtime.

The Raiders fired a total of 30 shots at the net versus 45 from the Bears.

First Star of the game went to Geoff Dempster (NEP), Second Star went to Ryan Richardson, and Third Star went to Jackson Clark (NEP).

It should be noted, that particularly during the second period, the game was marred with a number of ugly fights resulting in penalties for fighting and game misconduct. Maybe the boys should concentrate their energies on scoring instead, otherwise it will become a short season for the team.