Bears draw first blood in NDA Hockey finals

Scrum!!! The Bears and Raiders struggle to control the puck after a third period face-off. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears scored four times in the third period to slip past the Chippewa Raiders 4-1 in the first game of the best-of-three NDA hockey finals Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens.

The Raiders came out and played a solid two periods of play leading 1-0 on a first period short handed marker by Matt Connell.

However Joe Veltri and Tyler Hummel scored goals just over three minutes apart in the third period to take the lead for the first time in the series and then Guy Wallace added an insurance goal the bounced up and over a bewildered Raider netminder Matt Bahm who made a number of solid third period stops to keep his team in the game.

Ben Carriere added a shorthanded empty netter to solidify the Bears victory in the final minute of play.

“They capitalized on their bounces in the third period and we just seemed a little out of gas,” said Raiders assistant coach Bob Boal after the game.

Bears head coach John Wilson believes his team finally got a “wakeup call” after being down 1-0 after the second period.

“We talked about getting first to the puck in the third period and stepping up our effort,” said Wilson.

“Chippewa certainly came out hard and they were taking it to us.”

The Raiders and Bears will meet again on Friday night (6 p.m. at Memorial Gardens) with the Bears hoping to clinch the best-of-three NDA Hockey Championship in two straight.