The North Dundas Rockets welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Joel Steele Community Centre in Winchester on Sun., Sept. 15, in their final preseason game. The Rockets’ forward, Cam Sherrer gets a scoring chance off of a rebound by the Royals’ goalie, Charles Pare. Sherrer has had a good camp with the Rockets and is hopeful to crack the lineup. Moore photo
WINCHESTER—The North Dundas Rockets closed out their preseason with a pair of games this past weekend as they travelled to Ottawa on Friday night to take on the Bytown Royals and welcomed The Royals to Winchester on Sunday night.
Rockets 6 Royals 3
The North Dundas Rockets welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Joel Steele Community Centre in Winchester on Sun., Sept. 15, for their final preseason game in the NCJHL. The Rockets went into the game undefeated in their first two games and looked to cap off the preseason with no losses.
The Rockets opened the scoring just 55 seconds into the game as Brad Nash snapped one home from Justin Lefebvre and Joel Hunt taking a 1-0 lead. The Royals tied the game at 6:43 and took their first lead at 14:58 on the power play.
The Royals took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Royals made it 3-1 at 5:48 of the second period but the Rockets rebounded as Nash scored his second goal of the game from Lefebvre and Hunt at 13:54.
The Rockets knotted the affair at 14:18 when Brodie Barkley went end to end and ripped one onto the back of the net unassisted. The teams took a three-all draw into the second intermission. The Rockets retook the lead when Barkley scored his second of the night from Xavier Langevin while shorthanded at 2:16 of the third period.
The Rockets made it 5-3 when Lefebvre snapped one home from Hunt and Will Watson at 5:31. The Rockets weren’t done there as Ivan Schellenberg sniped one from Langevin and Barkley at 6:52. The Rockets hung on for the final 12 minutes taking the game 6-3.
With the win, the Rockets improved to a 3-0 record in the preseason. The Rockets outshot the Royals 47-28. Picking up the win for the Rockets were Felix Dubeau, Caleb Gervais and Emmerson Hunt.
Rockets 3 Royals 2
The North Dundas Rockets travelled to the Bernard Grandmaître Arena in Ottawa to take on the Bytown Royals on Fri., Sept. 13, in their second to last preseason game tuneup. The Rockets were coming off a big 12-4 victory over the Metcalfe Jets in their previous game.
The Rockets opened the scoring when Justin Lefebvre ripped one home unassisted at 8:29 taking a 1-0 lead. The Rockets took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Rockets took a two-goal lead when Brad Nash snapped one home from Lefebvre and Joel Hunt just 12 seconds into the second period.
The Royals got back to within one at 14:20 on the power play. The Rockets took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. The Rockets restored their two-goal lead when Will Watson fired one to the back of the net from Cameron Brown on the power play at 9:34.
The Royals made it close scoring at 14:58 on the power play but were unable to get any closer as the Rockets snuck out a 3-2 road victory. With the win, the Rockets moved to 2-0 in the preseason. The Rockets outshot the Royals 26-33.
Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal were Caleb Gervais, Felix Dubeau and Emmerson Hunt.
Up next
The North Dundas Rockets head to the NCJHL Showcase at the Robert Guertin Arena in Gatineau on Sat., Sept. 21, to take on the Morrisburg Lions at 2 p.m.
