RECAP | OWGK bounce back with a win over Richmond

RECAP | Ottawa West 5, Richmond 3

Wednesday December 13th 2017

The Ottawa West Golden Knights snapped their two game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Richmond Royals, Wednesday in Richmond.

Ottawa West, once again were unable to play with a full lineup with the recent injuries to Wall, Bidin and Cuglietta while Stratis was unable to play due to an exam.

The Golden Knights called up Justin Lefebvre and Landon Veenestra from the Jr. C North Dundas Rockets, playing the game with eleven forwards and six defenseman. Also making his debut in the lineup was Tristan Taillefer after he was acquired Wednesday afternoon from the Ottawa Jr. Canadians.

In a nutshell the Golden Knights won tonight’s hockey game because they played a North-South style of hockey and were excellent in their breakout which is something Steve Sundin worked on, during their practice on Monday.

“I ran the practice on Monday and we worked on our breakouts for 35 minutes” said Sundin. “When you only practice once a week, as a coach I need to find something that we need to work on and that will make us a better team. We did that and I think it showed in our play tonight”.

Ottawa West quickly took a 1-0 lead in the first period after George Young fired a pass from behind the net to an open Adam Goodfellow who netted his fourth goal of the season. After Westport tied the game with just over ten minutes remaining in the period, Raphael Lecours intercepted a pass from the Royals goaltender, William Anderson and fired the puck into an open net. The Golden Knights were leading 2-1 after one period of play.

The goal from Goodfellow, assisted by Young was a huge boost of confidence going into the second frame as Sundin was looking for better performances from his secondary players. “I thought both of them really stepped it up tonight”.

After a slow start to the second period, the Richmond Royals tied the game 2-2 when Patrick Yates fired a shot bar-down from the right circle.

Ottawa battled back when Goodfellow and Young fought to get the puck out of their own end before Young found Mulvhill open in the neutral zone for a breakaway and he made no mistake scoring his 22nd of the year.  

“I’m proud of Georgie (George Young), he had a great night and set me up on my first goal so I’m really proud of him” said Ottawa West captain, Luke Mulvihill.

Shortly after Mulvihill’s goal gave Ottawa West a 3-2 lead, Royals defenseman Matt Eardley took a double-minor spearing penalty which costed Richmond on the scoreboard. Lecours somehow scored after he batted the puck in on the power-play – giving the Golden Knights a 4-2 lead after forty minutes.

The goal was Raphael’s second of the game and his 15th of the season, which makes Head Coach, Steve Sundin think he’s starting to heat up.

“Raff has great hands and has great wheels” mentioned Sundin. “He’s been using his size to his advantage over the last few games and has been terrific”.

Mulvihill netted his second of the game in the third period on the same power-play that carried over from the second period, giving Ottawa a 5-2 lead which would seal the deal even with the Royals adding one more in the final minutes of the period.

Ottawa West outshot Richmond 56-36 in the win and also snapped the gold and black barber polls two game losing streak.

Luke Mulvhill and Raphael Lecours each added two goals in the victory, which is something the Golden Knights team captain attributes to the teams new first line.

“We’ve been together on a line for two games now and we were friends before Steve (Sundin) put us together” said Mulvihill. “We have found a rhythm ever since we started playing together and it’s been paying off with lots of goals as of late”.  

Not only does Mulvihill think his new line is working really well but so does Head Coach Steve Sundin. “I think a big reason we are scoring so many goals is because we pared Lecours, Mulvihill and Scrivens together and they’re really clicking”.

The Golden Knights play their next game tomorrow night (Thursday, December 14th) at 7:15 inside the Barbara Ann Scott arena. They take on the Whitewater Kings in their final home game before the new-year.

As mentioned by Steve Sundin, Ottawa West will have Daniel Stratis, Landon Veenestra and Kyle Fleming in the lineup for tomorrow’s game.

You can listen to all the action on our online radio stream – mixlr.com/owgkradio