There wasn’t much separating the Picton Pirates and the Napanee Raiders in their home-and-home series this weekend. But judging by the standings in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s Tod Division, the same could be said for the top five clubs in the seven team circuit.

Just seven points separate league leading Lakefield and fifth place Amherstview with Picton, Frankford and Napanee mired in a log jam betwixt the two. At the time of this writing, Picton holds down third place in the loop with 24 points. Napanee has the same total, but the locals have a game in hand.

The Pirates managed to move past the visiting Raiders on Thursday 3-1. The following evening in Napanee, Picton and the hosts remained deadlocked 1-1 until late in the contest when Raiders captain Reid Lambert had the winning solution to shade the Pirates 2-1.

Surrendering just three goals over a two game span went a long way to impressing Picton bench boss Jamie Lane.

“I was really pleased with both the way we defended and our compete level for the full 60 minutes in both games,” Mr. Lane said.

In both contests, Picton did an admirable job of rolling their four lines and using their depth to foil the Raiders at nearly every turn.

In both games, Picton had great efforts from their netminders. On Thursday, rookie Nick Parado followed up his first PJHL shutout a week prior with another gem, taking a second goose egg bid into the final minute of the game.

On Friday, Picton starter Nolan Lane was sensational. The Wellington native made 36 stops in a game not fully decided until the last few seconds.

“Those scars make us stronger and more complete come playoff time, so we’ll turn the page and get ready for this weekend,” Coach Lane added.

Heartbreaker

The hosts had the ice breaker Friday night. Carter Slaven followed up on an Owen Lutz rush and picked up the puck on a broken play, firing a wrist shot past Mr. Lane’s blocker at 11:54.

The Pirates had a response but it took until the dying moments of the first to produce it. With time ticking down and the teams playing four skaters aside, Keenan Wiles’s last second backhand volley was successfully turned aside by Napanee starter Jacob Brown. But the rebound handcuffed a Raiders defender and found a home in then back of Napanee’s net with just four seconds left in the opening stanza.

The teams were scoreless in the second and the game remained 1-1 through most of the third. The Raiders finally pushed through by taking advantage of a long lead pass from Eric Taher. Afforded a short 2-on-1 rush, Napanee’s Trent Williams found Mr. Lambert in the high slot and the Napanee Captain had the game winner on his stick with 2:40 left in the contest.

Picton forced Mr. Brown to be sharp with his glove a few times but couldn’t source an equalizer.

Another Thrilling Finish

On Thursday, the Pirates scored a pair of second period goals and that was enough to best the Raiders.

After a scoreless first, Napanee drew a pair of penalties in quick succession early in the second. Picton veteran Cole Stevenson utilized the extra time and space to manoeuvre to the top of the slot area and beat Napanee’s Denholm Blair at 3:48 to put the locals ahead 1-0.

Picton doubled down at 9:56 when Luc Amat backhanded Ben Smith’s pass past Mr. Blair and safely into Napanee’s mesh mansion.

Up 2-0 into the third, Mr. Parodo was lights out, making several big saves to preserve Picton’s two goal cushion. With Mr. Blair on the bench and Picton down a skater in the final minute of the contest, the Raiders finally got on the board when Ryan McGee collected a puck off the boards and beat the Picton goalie to the far post with 27 seconds left to make it 2-1.

The Raiders would get one last gasp but Mason Goodfellow’s one timer with about five seconds left went high off the glass, out of the Picton end and curled into the Napanee net with less than a second left.

Picton’s Cole Mulder was the last Pirate to touch the puck. He was awarded an empty netter for his trouble.

Picton hosts Frankford on Thursday and then travels to Port Hope Saturday and closes out the month on the road with a Sunday night game in Amherstview.