Preview | Thursday, November 23rd
Ottawa West Golden Knights (14-6-2-1) vs. Perth Blue Wings (10-11-3-0) at Barbara Ann Scott
Recently – the Ottawa West Golden Knights have been red hot and are raising through the Martin Division standings. The Golden Knights have turned things around since their last loss (9-5) which came two weeks ago in Winchester. A game that Head Coach Steve Sundin said that “we got our buts kicked against them, but I think we needed it and it woke us up”.
Since that game in Winchester, Ottawa has won three straight games, which is their longest winning streak since October 19th, where they won three straight games against Winchester (3-2), Carleton Place (5-4) and Char-Lan (4-3). All of those three wins were via a one goal victory, which is the difference from mid-October to mid-November. Despite the one goal victory against Casselman, Ottawa blew Whitewater (6-3) and Embrun (5-2) out of the water.
“We came out Saturday and beat a good Whitewater team” said Steve Sundin “Sometimes you need to hit rock-bottom before you get any better and I told the boys that we’ve hit rock-bottom” said head coach Steve Sundin, following a 4-3 win over Casselman on Saturday.
Over the last week, the Golden Knights have received really good performances from their second line which will be a factor tonight. Cameron Scrivens has nine points over his last three games, while Jamer has recorded five points during that time.
“Scrivens and Jamer have really found themselves and having Lecours back on that line is a huge boost” said Sundin “That second line has been the difference down the stretch for us” said head coach, Steve Sundin.
During their previous skid, Ottawa was without forward, Rafael Lecours who Steve Sundin says “is a great hockey player” and is still not 100% fully healed from his previous injury.
In the Golden Knights last two wins, Steve Sundin has used, centre, Tyren Boots on defence with the recent loss of Giordano and Parr “the guy is playing a strange position and he’s really stepped up over the last two games, I can’t say enough good things about him” said Sundin.
Tonight’s game will feature game one of their three game season series. The Blue Wings are fifth in the Richardson Division – two points behind Arnprior for the fourth and final playoff spot. Perth is two-and-three over their last five games but are coming off a 4-3 win over Renfrew on Sunday.
The Blue Wings do not have one player over a point per game this season and average just over two goals per game, which ranks 14th in the CCHL Tier 2. Their biggest strength this season has been goaltending and defence. Perth has allowed on average just over three goals per game and have the fourth best penalty kill (86.75%) in the league. Expect, Michael McLean to play lock down defence at any point in the game, to guard the lead.
As for Ottawa’s game plan, Steve Sundin says “we need to work on our break-outs and passing the puck clean to the tape” and said “I’m also going to get them to cover the high guy taking away the neutral zone because that’s the key, a lot of these teams like to fly through the natural zone and we need to limit that” said head coach, Steve Sundin.
Puck drop is at 7:15 tonight, inside the Barbara Ann Scott arena. You can catch the action live on Hockey TV or on our radio stream – mixlr.com/owgkradio
