Picton’s Luc Amat gets a shot off agaisnt Napanee Raiders defender Connor Brooks. Mr. Amat scored two goals in two games this weekend to help lead the club to their second and third wins of the season. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
The Picton Pirates are sailing home with six points worth of enemy gold after successfully raiding three Tod Division ports to kick off their 2024-25 Provincial Junior Hockey League campaign.
After spoiling Port Hope’s home opener on Sept. 13, Picton continued its mini odyssey this weekend, making stops in Napanee and North Kawartha.
On Friday, the Pirates played a comeback against their Skyway Bridge rivals and scored twice in the third period to best Napanee 4-3. The next evening in the hills of Apsley, ON, the Pirates loaded their cannons and unleashed an octet of goals, humbling the Knights 8-2.
Up next for Picton? The Panthers look to deliver a dose of payback when the Pirates host Port Hope on Thursday.
“It’s a nice start for the group going 3-0 to start the season and grabbing all six points but we’ve turned the page on that and our focus is Thursday and getting ready for the Panthers,” Picton bench boss Jamie Lane told the Gazette.
Picton was full value for their win in Napanee on Thursday and came out firing in the first.
Aiden Treverton had the ice breaker, picking up a loose puck at centre ice and coming down the wing on an odd man rush. The Stirling, ON native picked the corner clean on Raiders starter Denholm Blair at 5:22.
Napanee’s Aiden Haller-Brady would square the affair at 1-1, lifting the puck over Nolan Lane at 11:09 but the Pirates pushed ahead on the next shift. Napanee native and Picton’s rookie of the year in 2023-24 Luc Amat haunted his hometown team once again, going five hole on Mr. Blair at the 13:48 mark to give the locals a one goal lead as they skated into the first intermission.
In the second, the ice tilted in Napanee’s favour as the hosts outshot Picton 16-7. Luke Jarmin caught a rebound off the crossbar at 11:16 to tie the game and the hosts moved ahead fir the first time at 17:36 when former Wellington Duke Alex Case tapped home a shorthanded effort to make it 3-2.
After hitting everything in sight in the opening stanza and taking the play to Napanee, Picton had turned out their worst period of the young season.
“I really like our team when we finish our hits and play with more structure,” Coach Lane said “After the second my message to the team was to simplify things and get pucks on the net and get back to finishing our checks like we did in the first.”
Message received. A more inspired Pirates squad emerged for the third.
Gerrit Kempers would put in the work on the penalty kill early and get rewarded with his first tally of the year at 1:19. Picton pressed on and Captain Zack Brooks would blast a one timer past Mr. Blair at 6:44 to put the Pirates back in front for good.
If Napanee had any designs on a second comeback, the solid play of Picton kept those plans on the shelf as the Pirates out shot and out hit the Raiders including a massive body check by rookie Dorian Rimmer midway through the frame. Picton starter Nolan Lane came up with a game saver in the final moments, reaching across the crease to deny a Napanee shooter of a gaping cage and a game tying goal. The Pirates goalie made 33 stops in picking up his second win of the young season.
In Apsley on Saturday, the Pirates were able to chart a course to the Knights net early and often in an 8-2 blowout where they fired 52 volleys on the North Kawartha net.
After RJ Jackson caught Picton starter Nic McGrayne leaning at 2:08 of the first, it was all Picton.
Rheydan McCoy would get his first of the season on the power play just two minutes later thanks to help from Mr. Kempers and Mr. Treverton. Knights netminder Gavin Hill made 14 stops and did well to keep the game tied into the second.
The dam broke early in the second when Zack Brooks spotted little brother Trevor near the net and fed him for the rookie’s second of the year at 3:28.
Mr. Kempers, Reese Kleinsteuber, Cole Stevenson and Colby Leaver would light the lamp for Picton. Defenceman Kaleb Baldwin would pick up a pair of helpers on the final two goals of the stanza and the Pirates sailed out to a 6-1 lead.
At 3:30 of the third, Mr. Amat sprung Keagan Carr for his first PJHL goal and a highlight tally at that.
Mr. Jackson picked up his second of the game 62 seconds later but Mr. Amat made it two in two games thanks to help from the Brooks brothers (Sounds like a country band!).
Picton drops the puck at Huff Estates Arena for the first time this season on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The locals hit the road again on Saturday when they play the Trent Hills Thunder (Formerly Campbellford Rebels) in Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. The Thunder will move into their permanent home, the Sunny Life Wellness and Recreation Centre on Oct. 20 when they welcome Amherstview. Picton makes their first stop at the new Campbellford rink on Sun. Nov. 3.
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