Rockland Nats come out strong in the new year

The Rockland Nationals won two of their three games thus far in 2018.

The Nats came out strong in the first game of the new year on Thursday, January 4. The team took down the Cornwall Colts 6-3 in the Colts’ own arena. The Colts opened the scoring in the first period with a goal by Tommy Tanner. The Nats then answered with a goal by Trevor Coykendall early in the second period. At the start of the third period, the Colts were up 2-1.

The last period of the game was an explosive one for the Nats. They dominated the offense and scored five goals. Antoine Leblanc, Shawn Kennedy, Dallas Maurovic, Cole Lavoie and Mathieu Blanchette each took their turn to score. Konnor MacCormick broke up the Nats’ scoring with his goal halfway through the third period. The Nats walked away with a 6-3 win.

The Colts redeemed their loss the following night at the CIH Arena, beating the Nats 4-1. The Colts dominated most of the game, the Nats scor- ing their one and only goal of the game late into the third period. Noah William opened the scoring for the Colts late into the first and Jeremy Quesnel scored a hat trick to lead the Colts to their 4-1 victory.

The Nats then beat the Hawkesbury Hawks 3-1 on Sunday, January 7 in Rockland. Mathieu Blanchette and Antoine Leblanc opened the scoring for the Nats in the second period. Kari Belec gave the Hawks a chance at redemption with his goals six minutes into the third period to make the score 2-1.

Antoine Leblanc secured the win for Rockland with his goal 12 minutes into the third period. This would turn out to be the final goal of the night and his second of the match. He was named first star of the game for his two goals and one assist. Rockland goaltender Sean Storr was the second star for his 30 saves. The Hawks’ Belec was named third star for scoring his team’s only goal.

The Nats will be playing next in Kanata against the Lasers on Thursday, January 11 and again at home on Sunday, January 14 against the Cornwall Colts.

Les Nationals de Rockland ont remporté deux de leurs trois matchs jusqu’à maintenant en 2018. Les Nats joueront ensuite à Kanata contre les Lasers le jeudi 11 janvier et à domicile le dimanche 14 janvier contre les Colts de Cornwall.