Ottawa, ON – Two games were on the EOJHL schedule Tuesday night, featuring a hard-fought road win for Smiths Falls in Carleton Place and a statement performance from Ottawa at home against Winchester. Both winners leaned on timely scoring and strong goaltending as the regular season calendar continues to tighten.
Smiths Falls 5, Carleton Place 3
Carleton Place opened the scoring early when Matt Legge wired home a shot at 3:52 of the first period off a feed from Adamo Ghantous, but Smiths Falls answered late in the frame. Aidan Conroy tied the game at 15:50, finishing a setup from Caiden Deshaw and Alex Reid.
The Jr Canadians briefly regained the lead at 18:07 on a goal by Brady Barnes, only to see Smiths Falls respond again before the intermission. With just 35 seconds left in the period, Jordan Parsons evened the score after taking a pass from Luke Humby, sending the teams to the room tied 2–2.
Smiths Falls grabbed momentum early in the second period as Nathan Hovila gave the Bears their first lead at 3:30, capitalizing on a chance created by Andrew Hopley. Carleton Place pushed back once more at 5:41 when Xavier Goussis converted a play from Noah Green and Byron Box, leveling the score at three.
The decisive stretch came in the third. Smiths Falls struck shorthanded at 8:32 as Gabriel Waito finished a rush started by Timothy Bourne, then extended the lead just over a minute later when Caleb Bourne buried a power-play goal off assists from Ben Galliah and Nick Colson.
Jamie Bales turned aside 36 shots for Smiths Falls, while William Ross made 42 saves in the loss. Smiths Falls improves to 13-18-3-1, while Carleton Place falls to 10-23-2-0.
Ottawa 7, Winchester 2
Ottawa set the tone early on home ice as Sam Glover opened the scoring at 6:01 of the first period, finishing a play from James Davidson and Sydney Loreto. Winchester responded late in the period when Daniel McDowell tied the game with a goal at 17:31 off a setup from Ryan Ross.
The Hawks briefly grabbed the lead early in the second as Leonardo Matteucci scored at 8:32, but that would be as close as Winchester would get. Ottawa answered just over two minutes later on the power play, with Riley Bloom restoring the tie at 10:56 after passes from Mattias Côté and Logan Power.
Momentum swung decisively in Ottawa’s favour as Ryan Coughlan scored at 11:35, followed by Mattias Côté extending the lead to 4–2 at 16:12 with helpers from Jacob Perreault and Bloom.
The Jr Canadians pulled away in the third period. Bloom scored his second of the night at 6:17 off a feed from Coughlan, then Glover took over late, scoring twice more at 14:06 and 18:06 to complete a hat trick and seal the win.
Jackson Curran made 23 saves for Ottawa, while Jacob Turpin stopped 27 shots for Winchester. Ottawa improves to 27-7-0-0, while the Hawks drop to 15-19-1-0.
