ANTHONY DIXON

anthony.dixon@sunmedia.ca

KANATA - The CCHL?champion Nepean Raiders kicked off the Fred Page Cup in style Wednesday afternoon, shutting out the Quebec League champion Princeville Titans 4-0 in the tournament's opening game.

Played at the Kanata Recreational Complex beginning at 4 p.m., the game proved that Nepean was still operating on all cylinders, and not suffering from fatigue having come off back-to-back seven-game series including the CCHL?semifinal against Pembroke.

Dalen Hedges of Nepean got things rolling in the first period, scoring on the power play. Assists went to Brent Norris and Kenneth Neil.

Just over 17 minutes into the frame, Kenneth Neil doubled Nepean's lead.

In the second period, Brent Norris of the Raiders scored a pair of goals a little over four minutes apart to give the CCHL?champs a comfortable 4-0 lead.

There was no scoring in the third period but there was a string of penalties in what was obviously a feisty final 20 minutes.

A number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were handed out to both teams, including an abuse of officials misconduct penalty to Mathieu Roy of the Titans.

Nepean was 2-for-7 on the power play while Princeville went 0-for-3.

Tournament hosts, the Kanata Stallions, played the prime-time game on Wednesday, taking on the Woodstock (N.B.) Slammers at 7:30 p.m. Although the Stallions kept pace with the Slammers, they were edged 4-3. Curtis Watson, Debin Cobbold and Darian Plouffe scored for Kanata, while Robert Visca had a pair for Woodstock, Philip Fife scored the tying goal and Nick Huard scored the winner on the power play with three minutes to go in the game.

Kanata was 2 for 9 on the power play while the Slammers were 2 for 4.

Today, the Titans play the Slammers in the early game while fans will get to see some classic CCHL?action at 8 p.m. when league rivals Nepean and Kanata play each other.

Anthony Dixon is The Daily Observer's news editor