Ottawa, ON – The EOJHL schedule on Friday night saw two division leaders make loud statements on the road, as Arnprior continued to widen its grip atop the Richardson Division with an offensive surge in Perth, while Casselman exploded for a double-digit goal performance in Winchester to vault into first place overall in the league.
Arnprior 8, Perth 3
Arnprior wasted little time setting the tone, opening the scoring at 6:23 of the first period when Colin Lalonde finished a play from Carter Scott. Perth answered midway through the frame as Chase McAndrew converted a setup from Ayden Childerhose and Arjun Uppal, then took the lead late when Childerhose struck again at 18:35 off feeds from Uppal and Caleb Fiore.
The lead was short-lived, as Arnprior responded just over a minute later. Ethan Smith tied the game at 19:52 with a goal assisted by Ian Kennedy, sending the teams into the break even.
The Packers took full control in the second period. Cameron Sheppard put Arnprior ahead at 1:41, finishing a play created by Brendan Lynch and Ben Hiel, before Smith added his second of the night at 6:32 off passes from Carter Downs and Sheppard. Arnprior capped the period at 18:55 when Lynch beat the Perth goaltender with help from Rowan Casey, stretching the lead to three.
Any hopes of a Perth comeback were quickly extinguished early in the third. Reid Bishop scored shorthanded just 51 seconds in, assisted by Ben Hiel, before Perth responded at 3:47 with a goal from James Lake, set up by Owen Adams and Kaius Newberry. That would be as close as the Blue Wings would get.
Arnprior closed the door with two more goals, as Sheppard netted his second of the night on the power play at 10:04, then Tyler Bell added his first of the season at 12:03 off a feed from Carter Downs.
Tristan Hodgson earned the win with 46 saves, while Perth received appearances from Jake Dignard and Rowan Williamson. Arnprior improves to 23-6-0-0, extending its Richardson Division lead to 18 points, while Perth falls to 9-16-1-2.
Casselman 10, Winchester 4 — at Winchester
Winchester struck first on home ice, as Joshua Marcos opened the scoring at 7:07 of the first period, followed by Zach Pereira doubling the lead at 16:10 with help from Jackson Hill and Isaac Bradley.
From there, Casselman completely flipped the game. The Vikings erupted for seven goals in the second period, starting with Skyler Beks at 1:19, assisted by Alexis Lafrance and Kaleb Fogarty. Edouard Ranger followed at 5:04 before Thomas Ranger tied the game at 8:01. Just over a minute later, Mathieu Cloutier gave Casselman the lead, and Beks struck again at 10:09 to push the momentum firmly to the visitors.
Winchester briefly pushed back as Pereira scored his second of the night at 12:06, but Casselman answered again with goals from Tristan Witmer and Alexis Lafrance to make it 7–3 after forty minutes.
The Vikings added to the lead early in the third as Marc-Olivier McCarthy scored twice in just over a minute, both coming on the power play, before Casey Hayward made it 10–3 midway through the period. Kyler Leboutillier scored late for Winchester on the power play to round out the scoring.
Myles Boudreau picked up the win with 29 saves, while Winchester split duties between Jimmy Boyd and Ben Grant. Casselman improves to 24-4-0-0, moving into first place overall in the EOJHL and Martin Division, while Winchester drops to 13-15-1-0.
