LAURIE WEIR
The Smiths Falls Jr. A Bears capitalized on a pair of wins to jump into fifth place in the Central Canada Hockey League and second place in the Robinson Division this week.
Back-to-back wins on Feb. 6 at home and Feb. 7 on the road vaulted Smiths Falls from eighth to a fifth-place tie with Kemptville.
Friday, the Bears posted a 5-3 win over the Hawkesbury Hawks (seventh overall), and Thursday, they turned in a 6-2 win over Brockville (10th place).
With 12 games remaining, the Bears are looking good on the homestretch. Their next five games are at home, with the following six on the road before closing regular season action at home on March 16 against Renfrew.
SMITHS FALLS 5 RENFREW 3
In a rare Friday night road game in Renfrew, Quinn Both got the Bears on the board within the first minute of play. Travis Ouellette and Tyson Parker assisted on the goal.
Renfrew tied it at 12:09 on the power play, then pulled ahead 3-1 before the period’s midpoint with another pair from Marc-Olivier Lauzon and Maxime Charbonneau.
The chippy match saw Smiths Falls shoot back with a pair of power-play goals from Parker at the 11:19 mark and 12:15 to tie the score. Jack Paquette put the Bears ahead at 17:07 with his goal, assisted by Parker and Booth.
Parker’s hat trick goal at 17:59 made it 5-2 after two, and the Bears locked it down in the third.
For his five-point night, Parker was named the game’s first star. Hutchinson Rose, netminder for Hawkesbury, was the second star, and Booth picked up the third star honours for Smiths Falls with a goal and three assists.
Ethan Morrow was the winning netminder with 32 saves.
There were 285 fans in attendance.
SMITHS FALLS 6 BROCKVILLE 2
The Bears grabbed a key 6-2 home win over Brockville on Thursday, with 131 fans in attendance.
Smiths Falls held a 2-0 lead after the first period with goals from Gus Rabe and Ouellette.
Into the second, Jesse Lumsden gave Brockville their first goal at the 3:06 mark, but that was as close as they got.
Smiths Falls scored twice more in the period with goals from Ben Whitford and Davis Hails for a 4-1 lead.
Brayden Childerhose opened the third period for the home team at 2:49, assisted by Cameron O’Connell and Caeden Heins on the power play.
Brockville responded with a short-handed marker from Max Treppo at 16:20.
At the 17:58 mark, Peyton Veltkamp sealed the win for the Bears, assisted by Brayden Childerhose and Hails on the marker.
Game stars were Childerhose with a goal and two helpers for Smiths Falls; Dagg with two helpers for the home team, and Lumsden with a goal for Brockville.
Morrow picked up the win in nets with 20 saves. The Bears outshot the Braves 32-22 in this matchup.
COMING UP
Feb. 12: Smiths Falls is in Pembroke, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 14: Ottawa is in town, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 17: Brockville is in town, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 21: Carleton Place is in town, 7:30 p.m
Feb. 23: Hawkesbury is in town, 4 p.m.
Feb. 28: Kemptvillle is in town, 7:30 p.m.
