June 11, 2008...12:38 am

Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Raiders vs. Burlington Chiefs (6/10)

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Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Raiders vs. Burlington Chiefs

Welland Raidersvs.   Burlington Chiefs

An opportunistic Burlington Chiefs squad exploited the normally stingy penalty-killing units of the Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Raiders on Tuesday evening, nearly escaping with the win on a 4-of-6 power-play bonanza.  In the end, however, Welland’s reliable goaltending and defence held during the game’s late stages, and the Raiders escaped with a 7-5 road victory.

#11 Wade Kenny continued his strong play of late by netting an unassisted breakaway marker at 7:48 of the first to stake the visitors to the 1-0 lead, which they held for the remainder of the opening period.  #18 Marcus Elvin would respond on the power-play for the home side at 1:30 of the middle stanza, deflecting passes from #4 Bryce Jurk and #19 Ryan Callaghan past Welland starter #29 Graeme McCullough to knot the game at one.  #17 Michael Simpson would catapult the Raiders back into the lead with a goal from #91 Anthony DiFruscia and Kenny at the 6:19 mark.  The see-saw battle continued as Burlington again pulled even on #11 Keyan McQueen’s goal at 8:12, which was set up by Callaghan and Jurk.  The hosts would then assume the lead on Callaghan’s marker with the man advantage, with an assist from McQueen just over ten minutes into the middle frame.  The Raiders would net the equalizer with just over a minute left to play before the intermission, when DiFruscia made no mistake after a great feed from #19 Sebastien Beaudoin sent him in alone on #1 Thomas McHugh.

Elvin scored his second of the evening for the Chiefs only twenty-four seconds into the third, rifling a shot past McCullough after he found himself in all alone.  Not to be outdone, #90 Nicholas Beaudoin showed he too can make the most of a 1-on-0 situation by converting a breakaway chance at 2:53.  #98 Zach Olsson took advantage of Burlington sniper Callaghan’s double-minor by netting the eventual game-winner on the power-play, from Beaudoin and Beaudoin, as the Raiders finally assumed a lead they would not relinquish.  The Chiefs did not surrender easily, closing within one on Jurk’s tally from Callaghan and McQueen at 10:55.

Noted for their great sharp-shooting ability, the best of the Chiefs looked to pick the corners on McCullough, but he would do such a fantastic job of covering his angles that it gave them nothing to shoot at and the majority of their aerial assaults would miss the net by mere inches.  The best chance the Chiefs had to tie in the waning moments came when #10 Nick Nesbitt had a wide open cage to shoot at, but in his rush to get the shot off, his attempt ended up going askew.  Seconds after vacating the net in favour of the extra-attacker the Chiefs surrendered an empty-net goal when #44 Bryce Brochu sealed the game for the Raiders by streaking in after a helper from Kenny sent him on his way to close out the scoring in this wild 7-5 contest.

Goaltending that was second-to-none at both ends provided a challenge for the snipers on both squads this evening and made this a very entertaining game to watch.  The defence held up fairly well for both teams at even-strength, as special teams had the biggest impact on the scoresheet tonight.  Burlington was a potent 4-for-6 as mentioned previously, while Welland struck only once in four tries with the man-advantage.  Shots on goal favoured Welland 19-11.

Game night photos can be viewed here:

June 6 – Burlington Chiefs vs. Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Raiders

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The Raiders will be back in action Wednesday evening in Hamilton as they face another very worthy competitor, the Bengals, starting at 7pm.  In their previous meeting this season, held in Welland, the Raiders pulled out a 7-4 victory in a very evenly-matched battle, and one would expect more of the same this time around.  Welland now stands at 5-3 in Zone 9 competition this season, and 8-4 overall.

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