Canadians Rally To Hand Richmond Royals 3-2 Loss

Local Junior B hockey fans were back in the barn in Richmond over the weekend, and they were vocal. But for the Richmond Royals, it was another game that slipped away.

The visiting Ottawa Jr. Canadians netted three goals in the third period, including a power play goal with a two-man advantage in the dying minutes of the game to earn a 3-2 win in their Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League game.

The Royals have now lost all five of their games since play resumed earlier this month. They sit in eighth and last place in the EOJHL Martin Division, though they have three games in hand on seventh place Alexandria, who are two points ahead of the Royals.

On Sunday afternoon, the Canadians scored all three of their goals in the third period to claim a 3-2 come-from-behind win at the Richmond Memorial Community Centre.

While the first period ended with no score, there was some sorting out by the referees with just under a minute left. Justin Cox and Isaac Kelly of the Canadians took unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and Cox and Liam Hunter had tripping and roughing minors respectively. For Richmond, Will Small took a roughing penalty, giving Richmond a power play that straddled the intermission.

Tyler Cutts converted for the Royals just 29 seconds into the second period with a power play goal to put the Royals ahead 1-0.

In the third, Connor Fraser scored his fourth of the year for the Canadians to tie the score at 1-1, but the Royals got it back as Ryan Sullivan netted his fourth of the season from Kylan Tavares and affiliate player Will Small.

The Canadians came back again, tying the score at 2-2. As Nicolas Papineau scored from Jayden Baptiste with 7:25 remaining.

In the last five minutes of the third period, the Royals’ wheels came off and the Canadians took full advantage. Ethan Greene was called for cross checking, and a minute later, Owen Nevins was given two minutes and a 10-minute misconduct for a check to the head.

The penalty gave the Canadians about a minute of a five-on-three power play. Ethan Dinsdale shut the door on a few chances, but with two Canadians in front of the net screening the Royals goalie, Andrew Carr’s shot found its way through traffic and into the net for the eventual game-winner. Connor Fraser and Connor Dobson had assists.

The Royals were back at even strength for the last minute-and-a-half of the game. They pulled Dinsdale for an extra attacker, but they were unable to set up an attack in the Canadians zone and lost 3-2.

Connor Baillie made 41 saves for the win while Dinsdale stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced.

The Canadians and Royals meet two more times in the next week. They are back in action in Richmond Wednesday night at 8:20 p.m., and then they face each other Saturday at the Earl Armstrong Arena for a 7:20 p.m. face off.