Raiders hope for net results

Georgetown Raider forwards Adam DeJong and Rob Sgarbossa try to dig out a rebound from a collapsing Burlington Cougar defence in their 3-3 draw Saturday night at the Alcott Arena in Jr. A hockey action. Despite being badly outplayed in the contest's late stages, the Raiders salvaged a 3-3 draw.

Perhaps overshadowed by a change in the coaching staff of the Georgetown Jr. A Raiders over the weekend was the acquisition of another 20-year-old goalkeeper with impressive credentials, creating what team officials hope will be a "friendly competition" for the starter's job. Well-traveled Brian Mahoney-Wilson was signed by the Raiders last week and made his debut in Friday's 7-3 win at Bramalea over the last-place Blues, in which he faced 23 shots. His new teammate in Georgetown, Kitchener native Keaton Hartigan, isn't likely to surrender his current status as the Raiders' go-to goaler, however, judged by his play in a 3-3 draw with the visiting Burlington Cougars Saturday night. Hartigan, MVP of the Mid-Western Jr. B league last season, made several excellent saves to help the scrambling Raiders, who were outshot 52-32 by the third-place Cougars, earn a point. For now, Mahoney-Wilson and Hartigan will be employed in a platoon system until a clear-cut starter emerges. And with OPJAHL clubs limited to nine 20-year-olds on their rosters, one of the goalies may not finish the season in Georgetown.

"Competition is good. People forget we had two 20-year-old goalies when we went to the Royal Bank Cup two years ago," said Raiders' director of hockey operations Peter Mavroudis.

"It puts us in a position where we're comfortable with whoever's in goal and it shows how much this team wants to win. Keaton wasn't being pushed as the starter so we wanted to bring someone in who was going to make it competitive. (Hartigan) is still our number one and he proved that by going out and stealing a point for us against Burlington. At the same time, there's no guarantee either of them will finish out the year here. It does give us some options, because a lot of teams are looking for number-one goalies." A native of West Roxbury, Mass. and the nephew of San Jose Sharks' head coach Ron Wilson, the Sharks drafted Mahoney-Wilson in the ninth round of the 2004 NHL Draft after the 5-foot-10, 177-pounder led

Catholic Memorial to back-to-back Super 8 Boston-area high school championships. He has since bounced around to a number of Jr. A teams in North America, overcoming serious injuries and bad timing, still wanting to prove he's worthy of U.S. scholarship offers to schools such as Boston College, Northeastern and Alaska-Anchorage. Hartigan has posted a 9-6-3-0 record and 3.50 goals-against average so far for Georgetown. To make way for MahoneyWilson, 17-year-old backup netminder Cameron Healy was dealt to the Milton IceHawks. It's not known which goalie will get the call this evening from new head coach James Richmond as the Raiders host the 4-18-4-0 Buffalo Jr. Sabres at the Alcott Arena beginning at 8 p.m. The fifth-place 13-5-3-3 Raiders could get the quarterback on the power play they've been looking for after 20year-old Ryan Lee was released by the Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League. Forward Kyle Schwende missed this past weekend's games to his firefighter training commitments but will return tonight. Matt Carter tallied twice for the Raiders in Saturday's draw with the Cougars, including the equalizer midway through the third period. Jeremy Whelan added a single marker for the hosts. Scoring for Georgetown against Bramalea were Adam Campbell, Rob Sgarbossa, Matt Thomson, George Lovatsis, Jonathan Quarrie, Adam DeJong and Jon Southgate. Also this week, the Raiders will travel to Oakville Friday to take on the Blades and then host the Hamilton Red Wings Saturday. Game time is 8 p.m.