RECAP | November 30th 2017
Ottawa West 6, Alexandria 2
The Ottawa West Golden Knight had a giant bounce back performance against the Alexandria Glens on Thursday night. They recorded a must needed win after a tough 3-1 loss to the Perth Blue Wings last week.
They did start off very slow in the first period but ultimately turned things around in the third, scoring five unanswered goals en-route to a 6-2 victory.
After we were scoreless after the first – Glen’s, Dylan Stacey scored an unassisted goal in the second period. Ottawa quickly bounced back when defenseman, Brad Odam scored off an initial shot by George Young to tie the game 1-1. Odam, a natural defenseman was playing in his first game as a forward because of the acquisition of ’98 D-man Andrew MacKinnon and the injury to forward, Matthew Bidin.
“We were down a forward tonight with Bidin out of the lineup and he likes playing up front” said Sundin, on Brad Odam. “I like his physical play and it payed off tonight because he got us going with that goal”.
That was a main factor in the game. Odam scored at the 11 minute mark to send Ottawa into the third period, tied 1-1. From that point on, Ottawa West continued to push the pace towards the end of the second, generating a flurry of excellent scoring chances.
“We should have scored three or four goals in that second period and pucks were lying on the line but we just stuck to the game plan” mentioned, head coach Steve Sundin.
In the third, the Golden Knights continued to stick to the game plan, rolling four lines before they opened the flood gates, scoring five unanswered goals.
‘’We just kept wearing them down and playing our four lines because eventually they had to go in the back of the net” said Sundin.
Lecours gave Ottawa West a 2-1 lead just 45 seconds into the third period after he used his speed to split the Alexandria defense before making a really nice move on Rousseau to score his 10th goal of the year.
The biggest story was the play of Lucas Brown. Shortly after the Lecours goal, Ottawa got into penalty trouble. With the Glens on a 5-on-3 power-play, Brown intercepted a pass at the Ottawa blue line for a breakaway, scoring his first goal as an Golden Knight – giving West a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
“It felt really good to score that goal” said Brown. “I’ve never scored a goal 5-on-3 short-handed and I wasn’t trying to make any dekes, just shoot the puck”.
Brown would later score another short-handed goal to give the Golden Knights a 4-1 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third period.
The Golden Knights would score two more goals in the period before the Glens added their second goal of the game with five minutes to go. Ultimately, holding on to a much needed two points.
Andrew MacKinnon and Lucas Brown made their Ottawa West Golden Knights debut last night. Brown scored two shorthanded goals while MacKinnon was excellent defensively.
“We are ecstatic with both guys” mentioned Sundin. “MacKinnon moves the puck so well, he is so smart and sees the ice very well.” Later said “Brown is a hard worker and he’s smart, he’s not a big guy but is really quick and has great anticipation”.
The Ottawa West Golden Knights are back in action tonight (Friday, December 1st) against the Embrun Panthers. Ottawa last played the Panthers on November 16th at home and will make their first appearance in the Panthers barn tonight.
“I think we will get the same type of game that we got tonight” mentioned Sundin. “The new guys are starting to feel comfortable and it’s a small barn in Embrun so it’s going to be tough because they play well in their rink”.
Sam Wilson and Andre Giordano will be taking on their former teams tonight. You can catch the action on our online radio stream. Listen here at 8pm – mixlr.com/ojsradio
