Friday, May 7, 2010

THREE UNANSWERED IN FINAL PERIOD HELP BRAVES CLAIM THIRD

Press Release

DAUPHIN, Man. – The Brockville Braves are off to the semifinals of the 2010 RBC Cup on a winning streak.

Shayne Stockton’s goal at 8:08 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie and ended up as the game-winner as the Braves concluded the round robin at the National Junior A Championship with a 6-3 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Thursday night.

The win means Brockville will face the Vernon Vipers in Saturday’s first semifinal (2 p.m. CT), while the Ice Wolves will face the Dauphin Kings for the seventh time in two weeks in the late semi (7 p.m. CT).

It was La Ronge that got off to a quick start, as Ben Findlay snapped a shot from the slot past Brockville netminder Doug Carr, who was making his first appearance since April 2, when his Cornwall Colts were eliminated from the CJHL playoffs. Carr was added to the Braves’ roster when starting goaltender Clarke Saunders suffered a season-ending knee injury in a practice prior to the Fred Page Cup.

Despite the early deficit it was the Braves who led after one period thanks to goals from David Roy and Maxime Dumond. Brockville had the lead despite being out 11-7 in the opening 20 minutes by the Ice Wolves.

The second period was a back-and-forth affair that saw La Ronge tie the game, go down by a goal and tie the game again before the horn sounded to bring an end to 40 minutes of action. Travis Eggum notched both goals for the Ice Wolves, while Shayne Thompson replied for Brockville.

Not surprisingly, it was the Brockville power play that produced the game-winning goal when Stockton snapped a shot past La Ronge netminder Adam Bartko – the Braves’ tournament-leading 10th power play goal in four games.

Dumond added his second of the game 95 seconds later to give the Braves a little room and Scott Arnold used his speed to break in on Bartko and round out the scoring with under two minutes to go.

The Braves controlled the third period, outshooting the Ice Wolves 24-9 to give them a 44-33 advantage overall.


(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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