Ottawa, ON – The Athens Aeros closed out their weekend on the road Saturday night, putting together a complete offensive performance in Carleton Place as they pulled away in the middle frame and held on late to earn a 6–3 victory over the Jr. Canadians.
Athens 6, Carleton Place 3
Athens wasted little time setting the tone, striking twice in the opening period. Alex McGlade opened the scoring midway through the first after finishing a setup from Garritt Palmer and Jacob Dixie, before Baron Gleason doubled the lead just over two minutes later with a quick release off a feed from Finnley Panciuk.
The Aeros broke the game open in the second period with a five-goal surge. Zachary White made it 3–0 early in the frame, finishing a play created by Cameron Kelly and Gleason. Garritt Palmer followed with his fifth of the season, redirecting a pass from White before Parker Kealey added the secondary assist. Moments later, Kelly capped the run by burying a shot off feeds from Cohen Merkley and Matthew Mines to push the lead to 5–0.
Carleton Place got on the board late in the second when Noah Green beat the Athens netminder off a pass from Devin Clarke, giving the Jr. Canadians some momentum heading into the third.
That momentum carried briefly, as Xavier Goussis scored just 12 seconds into the final period to cut the deficit to three. Athens answered quickly, however, as Aiden Slattery restored the four-goal cushion after being set up by Kailum Boyce-Pettes and White. Goussis struck again on the power play midway through the period for his second of the night, but the Jr. Canadians could get no closer.
Marshall Greig turned aside 37 shots for Athens in the win, while Carson Garod faced heavy pressure at the other end, stopping 47 shots despite the loss.
With the victory, Athens improved to 12-17-4-1, while Carleton Place fell to 10-24-2-0.
