Ottawa, ON – A pivotal night in the EOJHL Division Finals saw two very different outcomes. The Ottawa Jr Canadians kept their season alive with a strong Game 4 win over Casselman, while the Smiths Falls Jr. Bears delivered a dominant performance to complete a series sweep over Renfrew and become the first team to advance to the EOJHL Barkley Cup championship series.
Ottawa 2, Casselman 1
Facing elimination, Ottawa delivered a composed and disciplined effort to extend the series.
The Jr Canadians struck early as Jacob Perreault opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the game, finishing a play from Mattias Côté and Carter Laforest.
After a tight, defensive first period, Ottawa doubled its lead late in the second when Riley Bloom found the back of the net at 16:37, again with Laforest involved along with Maxime Carriere.
Casselman pushed back in the third period, with Alexis Lafrance cutting the deficit to one at 12:27 off assists from Cédric Ouimet and Tristan Simoneau.
Despite late pressure, Ottawa held firm defensively to close out the win.
Jackson Curran was outstanding in goal, stopping 34 of 35 shots, while Myles Boudreau turned aside 27 shots for Casselman.
With the victory, Casselman now leads the series 3–1, with Ottawa forcing a Game 5.
Smiths Falls 10, Renfrew 3
Smiths Falls left no doubt.
The Jr. Bears erupted offensively to defeat Renfrew 10–3, completing a 4–0 series sweep and advancing to the EOJHL Barkley Cup championship series.
Smiths Falls jumped out early with goals from Caleb Bourne and Jordan Parsons, but Renfrew briefly pushed back with first-period goals from Blake Egan and Tyler Cameron.
The second period turned the game decisively. Brody Nielissen and Timothy Bourne scored just seconds apart early in the frame, and Smiths Falls continued to pour it on with goals from Timothy Bourne, Nick Colson, and Parsons to take full control.
The Bears added four more goals in the third period, including tallies from Hayden Latour, Lincoln Chalmers, and another from Timothy Bourne to cap off the dominant performance.
Matthew Saari made 24 saves in the win.
With the victory, Smiths Falls sweeps the series 4–0 and advances to the EOJHL Barkley Cup championship series, where they will await the winner of Casselman vs Ottawa.
