Ottawa, ON – The Divisional Semi-Finals continued Thursday night with momentum swings in both Martin Division series. Ottawa West bounced back on home ice to cut Ottawa’s series lead, while Casselman opened its semifinal matchup with Winchester in dominant fashion, riding a shutout performance to take the early edge in the series.
Ottawa West 6, Ottawa 3
Ottawa West answered back in the Battle of Ottawa, defeating the Jr Canadians 6–3 in Game 3 to cut Ottawa’s series lead to 2–1.
Ottawa struck first midway through the opening period when Danik Marion scored his third of the playoffs off assists from Sydney Loreto and Sam Glover.
The Golden Knights responded late in the frame with a flurry of offense. Justin Murdoch tied the game at 15:32 off a setup from Dominik Lemieux and Thomas Dickey. Ottawa West then exploded for two goals in the final minute of the period — Andrew Colley scored on the power play at 19:09 before William McCulligh added another just 32 seconds later to give the Golden Knights a 3–1 lead heading into the intermission.
Ottawa West extended the advantage in the second period when Gavin McCarthy capitalized on a play from Connor Cole and Colley. Ottawa responded midway through the period as Jacob Perreault cut the deficit to two with assists from Justin Savage and Mattias Côté.
Murdoch restored the three-goal cushion early in the third with his second of the night on the power play, finishing a passing play from Dickey and Joel Mullen.
Savage scored late for Ottawa, but Connor Cole sealed the victory with an empty-net goal.
Carter Overhoff delivered a strong performance in goal for Ottawa West, stopping 44 of 47 shots.
Casselman 5, Winchester 0
Casselman opened its Martin Division Semi-Final with authority, defeating Winchester 5–0 in Game 1.
The Vikings struck twice within seconds late in the first period. Mathieu Cloutier opened the scoring on the power play at 11:46, finishing a setup from Marc-Olivier McCarthy and Tristan Witmer. Just 33 seconds later, Thomas Ranger doubled the lead with McCarthy again collecting the assist.
Casselman continued to build the lead in the second. Alexis Lafrance added a power-play goal midway through the frame with assists from Kaleb Fogarty and Jeremy Bessette. Simon Toupin followed shortly after, finishing a play from McCarthy to push the lead to four.
Toupin added his second of the night early in the third period, finishing a passing sequence from McCarthy and Ranger to cap the scoring.
Marc-Olivier McCarthy had a four-assist night to lead the Vikings’ offense.
Myles Boudreau stopped all 15 shots he faced to record the shutout as Casselman takes a 1–0 series lead over Winchester.
