Story by Brock Ormond 

The Napanee Raiders managed to fight off a pesky Picton Pirates team in the early going to run up a 7-3 score on Tuesday night on home ice.
 
The 5th place Pirates gave the Raiders a scare in the first period, scoring once on 13 shots on a Mitch Thompson goal, assisted by TJ Patterson and Nick Devito. Charles Grimard managed to turn aside all 14 shots he faced in the period to halt Napanee’s attack.
 
The Raiders would ignite their fire in the second frame, scoring four times to chase Grimard from the net. Cullen Hinds (with his 23rd) and Brodie Butt (with his first goal back with the Raiders) scored a pair of dirty goals on goalmouth scrambles, before Jordon Cannons ripped a hard shot on a 2-on-1 rush off Grimard’s glove and in for a third quick goal. The goal was Cannons’ 13th of the season. Devito cut the Napanee lead down to one with a marker, but Aidan McFarland would restore the two goal cushion with a picture-perfect wrist shot past Grimard to knock him out of the game in favour of backup Kevin Valdez. McFarland’s goal was his team-leading 24th of the year. The Raiders would carry the two goal lead into the intermission with a 16-10 shot advantage in the period.
 
Napanee would break away in the third, shrugging off Devito’s second goal of the game early on and rattling off three straight markers. Austin Boulard notched a shorthanded tally for his 22nd of the season on a beautiful individual effort, Cannons added his second of the game and 14th of the year on a powerplay and then Boulard put the game on ice with a empty netter for his 23rd of the year.
 
A good bounceback effort from the Raiders after a week off gives them a solid victory. Good efforts from multiple sources, including underrated efforts from from Ryley Richardson, Chris Rogalsky, Cullen Hinds and Cam Parr in net. 
 
The Raiders have improved to 22-11-4 on the season with the victory, while Picton falls to 10-24-1 in their playoff push. With three games remaining on Napanee’s schedule, they look to try and refine their play as the playoffs draw near. The Raiders will head to Port Hope for the final time this year to battle the top seeded Panthers on Saturday night looking for their first win since September 22nd against them.