Richmond Royals end losing streak with pair of CCHL2 wins

By Jeff Morris

Manotick Messenger

The Richmond Royals snapped a four-game skid over the weekend, winning both of their Central Canada Hockey League 2 junior hockey games over the weekend.

After suffering their fourth straight loss in Winchester, losing 4-1 on Fri., Nov. 8, the Royals rebounded with wins over Athens and Arnprior to improve their record to 6-10-0 for 12 points.

On Saturday in Athens, the hinges on the penalty box doors clearly needed a shot of WD-40 after the Royals knocked off the Athens Aeros 4-2 in a game that saw 242 minutes in penalties assessed.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Connor Gilchrest notched his second of the year from TK Mwamba.

In the second, Mwamba scored his third of the year on the power play from Declan Flanagan and Patrick Yates. The Aeros got one back late in the period when Sam Gray scored.

In the third period, Richmond took control of the game with two early goals. Noah Dioszeghy scored his fourth goal of the season from Ryan Mann, and with 5:05 gone in the third, Ethan Vaselt netted his fourth of the season from Cameron Mulholland and Asa MacFarlane.

Just seconds after Vaslet’s goal, Flanagan was penalized and given a game misconduct for a check to the head. The check triggered a dust up that resulted in a total of 192 minutes in penalties, with 102 of those minutes handed out to the Royals. Flanagan, Mulholland, Vaslet and MacFarlane all received fighting majors and game misconducts, while Nolan Brien, Sam Gray, Malcolm MacDonald and Eddie Olmstead all received fighting majors and game misconduct for Athens.

Once order was restored and the teams resumed play with significantly shortened benches, the Aeros did manage to get one back as Liam Silva scored an unassisted goal.

Darien Johnson was the winning goalie for the Royals.

In Richmond Sunday, the Royals scored a pair of third period goals to pull away from the Arnprior Packers and take a 6-4 win.

The Royals jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as captain Patrick Yates scored from Willem Brandt and Ethan Gauthier. For the North Gower native, it was his ninth goal of the season. Adam Goodfellow then scored his sixth of the year from Yates and Ethan Greene. Arnprior responded with a pair of goals James Buckley and Ryan Rivard to send the game into the first intermission deadlocked at 2-2.

In the second, the teams once again exchanged two goals apiece. Grant Cooper scored his first of the year from Yates, and Ryan Mann scored his eighth of the year unassisted for the Royals. Jake Rampton and Danny Carroll replied with goals for the Packers.

Curran Gilmour scored for the Royals just 45 seconds into the third period with what would become the eventual winner. Yates and Dawson Evans drew assists. Ten minutes later, Gilmour and Arnprior’s Quinn Vanhoof were handed majors and game misconducts for fighting.

The Royals clinched the win with 1:24 remaining in the game as TK Mwamba scored his fourth of the year from Adam Goodfellow.

Josh Lacelle was the winning goalie for the Royals, stopping  30 of 34 shots.

The Royals visit Embrun Friday night (Nov. 22) before hosting Whitewater Sunday afternoon in Richmond. Face off is at 1:30 p.m.