St. Regis Braves Come Up Short Against Axemen, Despite Hard-Fought Game

MASSENA – The St. Regis Braves lost to the Capital Region Axemen in a hard-fought 12-6 affair at Massena Arena on Thursday, May 11.

Plagued by penalties in the rough-and-tumble match, three St. Regis players were ejected from play on game misconducts. Nick Sanseverino was tossed in the first quarter, an encounter which also ended up costing Ottawa's Brett Perras the rest of the game as well. Braves Daylin Logan and Kota Square were removed from play in the second quarter. Six players combined from both sides were docked a combined half hour in the penalty box for unnecessary roughness calls, four from St. Regis and two from the Axemen roster. Total penalty minutes distributed nearly in proportion to the final score – 33 minutes for the Braves and 19 minutes for the Axemen.

Ottawa dominated scoring in the first two periods, their defense holding the Braves to just a single goal in the closing frame.

The Axemen posted the first goal of the game 3:45 into regulation, from the stick of Fred Hartley, assisted by Jordan Joncas. After nearly 11 minutes of stalemate play, Derek Hopps put St. Regis in the game on a play set up by Blake Kenny and Jarrett Jacobs. The Axemen were quick to regain the lead, with a goal at 15:33 from Joncas, assisted by Mark Vradenburg and Raj Wasson. Just over 1:20 later, Hartley passed to Vrandenburg, who found the back of the Braves' net and left Ottawa ahead 3-1 going into the middle stanza. The Axemen were able to take advantage of high-sticking and unnecessary roughness penalties in the second period, in addition to posting four more goals to St. Regis's four. At 2:03, Vrandenburg added another goal for Ottawa with a helper from Thor Grant. Their squadmate Curtis Singleton followed suit, assisted by Wasson on a powerplay. Geoff McNulty then posted the first of two consecutive goals for the Braves, each assisted by Dalston Day and the second also including a helper from Hopps. Between the two, Dan Gawne punched in the sixth goal for the Axemen. By the end of the frame, the teams went back and forth. There were three goals for Ottawa from Ryan Dewar, Vrandenburg and Singleton, with respective assists going to Vradenburg, James Jordan and Todd Chapman. St. Regis got two out of the offensive exchange, thanks to Angus Leborgne unassisted and McNulty, assisted by Kenny and Jarrett Jacobs.

Ottawa's defense was strong in the third period, holding St. Regis to just one unassisted goal from Leborgne. Singleton scored two Axemen goals and Vradenburg one. Singleton and Aaron Woods picked up assists on the plays, while Joncas recorded two helpers on the three goals.