The Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs won their 6th game in a row and moved into a tie with Eskasoni for first place in the Sid Rowe Division with a hard fought 3-2 win over the Membertou Jr. Miners in Membertou Saturday evening. Antigonish and Eskasoni are now both 15-3-1 for 31 points while the Jr. Miners remain 2 points out of a playoff berth in the Rowe Division. The Jr. Bulldogs took a 2-0 first period lead on goals from Sam Grant and Zachary Lorette only 9 seconds apart. Blake Cox with the first of his two on the evening brought the Jr. Miners to within one less than five minutes into the second period but the Jr. Bulldogs Logan McGrath made it 3-1 with 1:50 to play in the middle frame. It took only 23 seconds off play into the third period when Cox scored his second for the Jr. Miners but it was all that would happen and the Bulldogs won 3-2. Eskasoni clashes with the Strait Pirates at home Sunday evening before the Bulldogs and Jr. Eagles meet in a gigantic home and home Friday Jan 20 in Antigonish and Sun Jan 22 in Eskasoni. The Jr. Miners despite losing outshot the Jr. Bulldogs 32-30.
Liverpool 5 Sackville 4 (OT)
John Shubaly’s goal for the Privateers with 2:56 remaining in regulation tied the game at 4-4 and then Daniel Kline won it 1:14 into the five-minute sudden-death overtime as the Privateers nipped the Sackville Blazers 5-4. Malcom Bussey who scored twice and assisted on another goal gave the Privateers a 1-0 lead after twenty minutes. The Privateers then went up 2-0 on Joe Osborne’s goal 3:06 into the second period but the Blazers powered back with a pair of goals by Ryan MacDonald and Donovan Cyr to tie the game at 2-2 after two periods. The third period was an emotional see-saw battle as Degen Noble and Daniel Surette each scored for the Blazers to go along with two assists respectively while Bussey with his second of the night and Shubably’s goal sent it to overtime. The Blazers outshot Liverpool 41-39 and they will finish off their 6 game regular season schedule between the two rivals Monday night in Sackville starting at 7:30 p.m. Liverpool can win the season series with a victory as they are 3-2-0 versus Sackville so far this season while the Blazers are 2-2-1 having been outscored by the Privateers 21-18 in the five games. Liverpool and Brookfield are now tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Fred Fox Division with identical 9-9-2 records while the Blazers are 10-11-2 for 22 points. The Privateers and Elks both hold 3 games in hand on the Blazers.
Capstone Colts 4 Brookfield 2
The Elks did score twice at home Saturday afternoon after having been shut-out in their three previous games but it wasn’t quite enough as they lost their fourth straight 4-2 to the Fox Division Leading Colts. It took only 21 seconds for the Elks to score after the opening face-off as Ben Fraser threaded the needle and it was the only goal of the first period. Tyler Puma tied it for the Colts in the second before Dawson Blanchard on the power-play put the Elks back in front 2-1. However it was the last goal the elks would score as the Colts came back with three straight, two by Brayden Hooper-Richard, his first tying the game 2-2 heading into the third before Will MacRae put the 15-2-1 Colts in the driver’s seat for good only 1:21 into the third. Hooper-Richard added an insurance marker with under three minutes to play. Colin Goodwin garnered three assists for the Colts who outshot Brookfield 39-31.
GrayJay Sports