Ottawa, ON – Friday night’s EOJHL Divisional Semi-Final action delivered a dramatic overtime upset in the Richardson Division while the Casselman Vikings continued their dominant start to the Martin Division series. Renfrew earned a crucial road victory to cut into Arnprior’s series lead, while Casselman rolled past Winchester to move within striking distance of the next round.
Renfrew 5, Arnprior 4 (OT)
Renfrew jumped back into the series with a dramatic 5–4 overtime victory over Arnprior in Game 3, trimming the Packers’ series lead to 2–1.
Arnprior opened the scoring midway through the first period when Neil Iserhoff finished a pass from Ethan Smith. Renfrew answered later in the frame as William Herrick tied the game with help from Nathan Donohue.
The Packers regained the lead in the second period on the power play when Carter Downs scored off assists from Smith and Ian Kennedy. Renfrew responded with a stunning sequence late in the period, scoring two shorthanded goals just 37 seconds apart. Liam Haggerty first tied the game before Ian Burnett gave the Timberwolves their first lead, both goals coming while killing penalties.
Renfrew extended the advantage early in the third when Haggerty struck again on the power play after a setup from Daxton Markwick.
Arnprior pushed back late. Downs scored his second power-play goal of the night at 8:09 before Colin Lalonde tied the game with just under three minutes remaining, forcing overtime.
In the extra frame, Daxton Markwick ended the contest at 2:20, finishing a pass from Parker Evans to secure the road victory.
Dylan Elliott made 34 saves in the win for Renfrew, while Cole King stopped 26 shots for Arnprior.
Despite the loss, Arnprior still leads the series 2–1.
Casselman 6, Winchester 1
Casselman continued its dominant start to the Martin Division Semi-Final, defeating Winchester 6–1 to take a 2–0 series lead.
After a scoreless first period, the Vikings erupted in the second. Kaleb Fogarty opened the scoring just over a minute into the frame off assists from Tristan Simoneau and Jeremy Bessette. Thomas Ranger added another minutes later with Marc-Olivier McCarthy collecting the helper.
Tristan Witmer extended the lead with a shorthanded goal midway through the period before Winchester finally broke through late in the frame when Peter Harps scored with help from Isaac Bradley.
Casselman put the game away in the third period. Simon Toupin restored the three-goal cushion early, and Téo Webb followed shortly after with his first of the postseason. Toupin added his second of the night minutes later to cap the scoring.
Marc-Olivier McCarthy recorded three assists in the win.
Myles Boudreau stopped 26 of 27 shots as the Vikings now hold a 2–0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
