Alex MacVicar recorded his fourth shut-out of the season at home in Shearwater Friday night as the Capstone Colts blanked the Brookfield Elks 6-0, with all 6 of their goals being recorded in the second period. Tyler Puma scored twice for the Colts while recording an assist, the goals were Tyler’s 9th and 10th of the 22-23 season. Cooper Puma scored and added a pair of assists with singles going to Hunter Canning, Benjamin Veinot and Brayden Hooper-Richard. The Colts outshot the Elks 38-23 and it was the third consecutive game the Elks have been blanked. Brookfield will try to get back in the scoring groove when they complete a home and home with the Colts Saturday Jan 14 in Brookfield with the game starting at 4:00 p.m. As for MacVicar, he rolls along not seeking any fanfare but has a remarkable 12-2-0 record, a 1.71 GAA, a .950 save percentage while stopping 460 of the 484 shots he has faced to date tis season. The Elks are clinging to the fourth and final playoff spot in the Fred Fix Division with a 9-8-2 record for 20 points, one back of the Sackville Blazers who occupy third with 21 points. Sackville travels to Liverpool Saturday night to play the 8-9-2 Privateers who depending on the Colts and Elks game could move into a tie for the final playoff spot with a win over the Blazers. Elsewhere Friday night:
Antigonish AA Munro Jr. Bulldogs 2 Port Hawkesbury 0
Cody MacEachern recorded his 2nd shut-out of the season for the Bulldogs while recording his 9th win of the season against two losses as the Bulldogs continue to do their utmost in overtaking the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles for first place in the Sid Rowe Division. The Jr. Bulldogs are 14-3-1 while the Jr.Eagles are 15-3-1. The Jr. Bulldogs are on the road in Membertou for a huge game for the Jr. Miners who find themselves out of the playoffs by only two points with an 8-13-1 record. Eskasoni is back in action Sunday at home against Port Hawkesbury. Scoring for the Jr. Bulldogs Friday night were Ethan Twolan with a goal and an assist, the goal being his 9th f the season while Bradley Armstrong scored the other Antigonish marker. As for MacEachern, to go along with his 9-2 record, he has also posted a 1>96 GAA, a 0.927 save percentage while stopping 281 of the 303 shots he faced this season.
East Hants 7 Valley Maple Leafs 6 (S0)
In the voice of the late Earl Davis - a recent inductee into the Windsor Hockey Heritage Hall of Fame as a Volunteer, “it was a barnburner” from beginning to end. The Leafs were playing under a new Head Coach in Greg Riley and back-up net minder Jaden Croft who was brilliant for the opening 40 minutes of the game before East Hants began applying heavy pressure in the closing minutes of the second period after falling behind 5-1. The Pens onslaught then continued until they tied the game at 6-6 with 2:06 left in regulation. In the second period, the Pens after being outshot 15-13 in the opening frame, were outshot 13-4 late into the period when the Pens finally found their groove and launched heavy pressure on Croft forcing him to make a number critical saves as the Pens finished the period outshooting the Leafs 8-3 for a 2 period Leafs advantage of 31-25. The game started slow with both teams feeling each other out before Ben McCarthy for the Leafs and Brody Fraser for the Pens connected to see the first period end in a 1-1 tie. The Leafs scored on their first three shots in the second period. With 56 seconds gone in the middle period Justin Banks with a great wrist shot from the right face-off circle made it 2-1 and a mere 8 seconds later, the Leafs were up 3-1 as Nick Oickle’s shot bounced off the glass behind the net and came right out in front of Oickle who pounced on the rebound to put the Leafs up by a pair. Just 3:54 later Carter Graves put one into the top left-hand corner of the Pens net and it was 4-1. The Leafs were not finished as Graves came back with his second of the evening as he let another wicked wrist shot go it went high into the left side of the Pens net minder. The Pens added a second goal on the power-play as Brody Fraser flipped a backhand shot on his knees at the left side of the net to beat Croft low on the right side. That made it 5-2 after forty minutes and the Pens came out storming in the third period with three players storming down the left side and Devin Meagher scoring with a hard shot from the face-off circle. Brody Fraser with his third of the night made it 5-4 just 1:57 into the third before the Pens made a miscue leaving Carter Graves all alone in front of the Pens net to poke it home on the power-play with 1:02 remaining in Bryan Langlois’s holding penalty. For Graves it was his third of the night. Robbie Dowell almost made it 7-4 as he split the East Hants defense but Grant Sanford made a superlative save to keep the game eat 6-4. Devin Meagher made it 6-5 Pens on a shot from the point that eluded Croft while Hayden Richardson of the Leafs was off for interference. Sean Freeman of the Pens almost tied it at 6-6 when he rang a shot off the crossbar but the critical penalty for the Leafs came with less than three minutes to play when they took a “too many men on the ice” penalty and it pout East Hants on the power-play and with 2:06 left in regulation Joey Merriam scored on a shot from the left face-off circle to tie the game at 6-6.
In the sudden-death overtime, the Leafs Kayden Kuryluk went in alone after splitting the East Hants defense but he could not score and then Terran Baillie was left wide-open infront of the Pens net with the puck on his stick but Sanford made a brilliant save to keep the game at 6-6. The Leafs then took a penalty with 1:39 to play and were forced into a 4 on 3 match-up against the Pens but East Hants could not score and the game then went to a shoot-out. There were five shots required in the shoot-out but Ryan Langlois was the only one to score as he deked Leafs goalie Croft out of his net but then stopped quickly and put one into Croft’s right-handed side for the shoot-out winner. The Valley fell to 4-17-1 while East Hants remains only a point out of first place with a 13-2-2 record for 28 points, one back of the Colts.
GrayJay Sports