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League News
McInnis outstanding in nets for Miners
The Membertou Jr. Miners moved into a position they have been seeking for weeks, if not months……that is the fourth and final playoff position in the Sid Rowe Division while the Liverpool Privateers evidently have started the jet engines roaring at an exceptional time as they moved into third place in the Fred Fox Division. The following is a closer look at Saturday’s action in the NSJHL:
Membertou 6 Pictou 0
The Jr. Miners received superlative goaltending from Darian McInnis as he turned away all 46 shots he faced as Membertou blanked the Pictou County Scotians at home 6-0. The win was the Jr. Miners ninth of the season against 14 losses and 4 OT/SO losses to give them 22 points and move them ahead of Pictou by a single point in the race for the final playoff spot in the Rowe. Blake Cox had another outstanding game for Membertou scoring his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season including his 7th power play marker in the second period. Both of his goals came in the final five minutes including one with only five seconds left in the middle frame. Other Jr. Miner goal scorers were Andrew McCarron, Nathaniel Fuller, Jarret Hicks and Tye Clarke. The Jr. Miners held period leads of 3-0 and 5-0 but were outshot 46-30. The 10-8-1 Scotians are back in action Sunday when play Eskasoni.
Liverpool 4 East Hants 2
The Privateers stretched their winning streak to four games doubling up the Penguins 4-2 despite being outshot 40-31. The Privateers moved into third place in the Fox Division at 12-9-2, 2 ahead of the Sackville Blazers and 4 ahead of the Brookfield Elks. The Pens Ethan MacVicar and Liverpool’s Jude Greenwood exchanged first period goals before Bruen Fisher put the Pens back in front 2-1 slightly more than 2 minutes gone in the second period. After that it was all Liverpool as they scored three unanswered goals by Daniel LeBlanc, Alec Howie and Blake Chasse to take a 4-2 lead after forty minutes which is the way the game ended. The 14-4-3 Pens are now four points out of first place as they trail the Capstone Colts.
Brookfield 2 Valley Maple Leafs 1
The Brookfield Elks who had been mired in a five-game losing streak while scoring only three goals during this stretch, finally were able to snap out of their funk in a hard fought 2-1 win over the Leafs Saturday afternoon in Brookfield. Ben Fraser scored the game winner for the Elks in the third period while also assisting on the Elks other goal, a power-play marker by Dawson Blanchard in the second period. Carter Graves tied it up for the Leafs with 3:58 to play in the second until Fraser’s goal 5:43 into the third. Both goalies were sharp in between the pipes with Ben Radford stopping 34 of 35 shots for the Elks and Eric Bilodeau 44 of 46 shots for the Leafs. The Elks are now 10-10-2 and two points back of the fourth place Blazers who they will play Monday night in Sackville in a critical game for both clubs starting at 7:30 p.m.