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Eskasoni remains red hot behind Kabatay
The Eskasoni Jr. Eagles have 13 games remaining in their regular season schedule and are 13-3-1 for 27 points following their two latest victories over the Membertou Jr. Miners who saw their record drop to 7-12-1 through 20 games for 15 points and in a real bind in hopes of advancing to this season’s playoffs as the two teams in front of them Port Hawkesbury and Pictou have 5 games and 4 games in hand respectively on the Jr. Miners, who trail the Scotians and Strait Pirates by 4 points respectively.
The Jr. Miners in their final game of 2022 lost a high scoring affair 8-6 to Eskasoni Friday evening Dec 30. Eskasoni led 3-2 after one period thanks to Sonny Kabatay’s 23rd goal of the season. He also added 3 assists to give him 28 on the season and a 14 point lead atop the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Scoring Race. Brady Doucette and Mason Chapman briefly put the Jr. Miners up 2-1 but that lead lasted only 33 seconds before Marcellus Francis connected for his 19th goal of the season. Kyle Rudderham finished off the first period scoring and gave the Eagles their 3-2 lead. The Jr. Miners started strong in the second period scoring two goals mid-way through the middle period, once again from Mason Chapman and Brady Doucette to put Membertou up 4-3. It stayed that way until Bryce MacKenzie tallied for the Jr. Eagles with 50 seconds left in the middle frame to knot the game at 4-4. Dante Basque put the Eagles back in front with his 12th of the season to go along with 17 assists with only 1:50 elapsed in the third. Alexander Chenhall on the power-play tied it again, this time at 5-5 before Jacob Denny scored his 11th, 12th and 13th markers of the season giving him 3 goals and 1 assist in the game. Denny has also connected for 22 assists and he occupies third in the league scoring race behind Francis and Kabatay. Jarrett Hicks scored the other Jr. Miners goal to make the final 8-6 Eskasoni who now owns a 4-1-0 record against the Jr. Miners this season while Membertou is 1-3-1. The Eagles have outscored the Jr. Miners 26-22 in the five games. They will play one more time this season in Membertou Saturday Jan 21 at 7:30 p.m. unless of course the Jr. Miners can figure out a way to make up ground on Pictou and Port Hawkesbury and potentially meet the Eagles in a playoff round. Eskasoni outshot Membertou 34-33.