CJHL Hockey
Inconsistent effort
costs Grads in loss to
Smith Falls Bears
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Cumberland Grads forward Matt Miller celebrates after giving his team an early 3-0 lead against the Smith Falls Bears on Wednesday. Fred Sherwin/Photo

For the Cumberland Grads, Wednesday night's loss to the Smith Falls Bears was both the best of times and the worst of times.

After opening with what head coach Paul Flindall described as the team's best period of hockey this season, the Grads played arguably their worst period of hockey in the second and then failed to respond in the third on their way to a 5-4 loss.

The Grads were firing on all cylinders in the first period, peppering goalie George Grammenopoulos with 19 shots.

Mike Borkowski got Cumberland on the board eight minutes and 19 seconds into the first period then Daniel Goyette and Matt Miller scored 12 seconds apart to give the Grads a quick 3-0 lead.

The PA announcer barely had time to announce Miller's goal when Eric Carlson scored for the Bears to briefly narrow the Grads' lead to 3-1.

Borkowski's second goal of the game with 2:09 left in the period would give Cumberland a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead.

The intensity that the Grads showed in the first period was mysteriously absent in the second, however. The TSN turning point came with just under seven minutes left to go in the period when Daniel Goyette was slapped with a two minute fighting aggressor penalty after pummelling Paul Hutchings at centre ice.

As the two combatants were settling into the penalty box, Flindall had a few choice words for referee Bill Bowker who immediately hit him with a bench minor which gave the Bears a two man power play.

It took Smiths Falls all of five seconds to make the Grads pay for their transgression as Devon Rice beat Adam Laderoute to narrow the deficit to
4-2.

With Jason McCarthy still in the penalty box serving out the bench minor, the Bears power play unit clicked again 24 seconds later on a shot from the high slot by Jonathan Milley that beat a partially screened Adam Laderoute high stick side to make the score 4-3.

The Grads woes continued later in the period when a Greg Sartoretto high sticking penalty lead to the Bears third extra strength goal of the period which tied the game at 4-4. Laderoute made a great pad save on the initial shot and then stopped the rebound, but he couldn't recover fast enough to stop the third shot. After outshooting the Bears 19-9 in the first period, the Grads were outshot 18-6 in the second.

Despite a pep talk from Flindall between periods, the Grad's lack of intensity continued in the third. The Bears completed their comeback early on in the period when Simon Johns scored a highlight reel goal, snapping s shot high into the top of the net from in close with Michael Nooyen draped all over him.

The Grads had a golden opportunity to even things up several minutes later when the Bears took a pair of back-to-back penalties, but Cumberland's power play was relatively ineffective generating little in the way of any sustained pressure.

Their best chance came off the stick of Mathieu Ouellette with 4:36 left to go in the game, but Grammanopoulos made an outstanding split pad save to protect his team's one goal lead.

It was Cumberland's second loss in a row and third in their last four games. After the game a frustrated Flindall blamed himself as much as the players for the team's second period collapse.

"I thought we played our best period of the season in the first and then we let our emotions get the best of us in the second, including myself, and we fell apart,' said Flindall. "You have to give credit to Smiths Falls as well. They came out in the second and played hard and got themselves back into the game."

The team was scheduled to practice on Thursday before traveling across town to take on the Kanata Stallions on Friday. Their next home game is this Sunday at 3 p.m. against the Ottawa Jr. Senators.

(Posted 4:30 p.m., Oct. 22)

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