The Pontiac Senior Comets split the first two games of the team’s first playoff series in over five years, forcing a third and final game on Friday night.
The Comets team, which kicked off its 3-game first-round series Saturday at Arnprior’s Nick Smith Centre, ended the regular season with seven wins and 12 losses, putting the team in third place in the Capital division.
The team’s finish earned it a date with the second-place Rivermen, a team they were only able to beat once during the teams’ four regular-season matchups.
Despite the poor regular-season showing against the Rivermen, Comets captain Quinn O’Brien said the team was still feeling confident going into the playoff series.
“The regular season isn’t necessarily representative of how good we’ve been doing,” he said, adding that the nature of senior hockey is that players aren’t always available for every game.
“We have the potential in the room to be different, and the Arnprior team has been significantly ahead of us, but [ . . . ] it’s a whole new season.”
Saturday’s game, the first of the series, saw the Comets get out to a slow start, conceding three goals in the first period. Then, a sudden spree of three goals in just under four minutes brought the visitors back level before the frame’s end.
The Comets continued that momentum going into the second period, scoring three goals to the hosts’ one.
The same pattern repeated itself in the third period, and the game ended in a 9-3 victory for the Comets.
“There may have been a bad bounce or two at the start of the game,” O’Brien said, adding that the team had to realize there was lots of time left to play.
“It was just resetting, getting back to the basics and simplifying the game, and that worked out.”
Looking ahead to the next game, O’Brien said he wanted to see his team have a better start against an Arnprior team that will be playing to save its season.
“If we fall behind the eight ball and we start deep in the first period, it’s going to be a lot harder to come back from, just given their level of desperation.”
The second game of the series, hosted in Fort Coulonge, was a lower-scoring affair. Neither team tallied until mid-way through the second period when O’Brien opened the scoring. The visitors, though, tied the game within a minute, leveling the score at 1-1.
The Comets’ Keyshawn Francis led off the third period with a goal to put the home team up 2-1, a goal that looked like it would be the decider until Arnprior’s Adrian Moyes scored with only 20 seconds remaining in the game, forcing an overtime period.
The third and deciding game of the series will go down Friday in Arnprior at 7:30 p.m.. Awaiting the winner in the next playoff round are the league-leading North Dundas Rockets, who achieved the league’s best regular-season record at 19-1.
O’Brien said the team had a job to take care of first. “Against Arnprior it’s not complete yet, so we’re not thinking that far forward.”
