GrayJay Sports
League News
Strait wins in dying seconds
The Pictou County Scotians clinched third place in the Rowe Division while the Jr. Bulldogs recorded their 26th win in 30 games in NSJHL Play Sunday evening.
Port Hawkesbury 7 Pictou County 6
The Strait Pirates in order to clinch third place in the Rowe Division needed to defeat the Scotians by nine goals Sunday evening in Trenton. This did not happen despite a wild-scoring affair that saw Port Hawkesbury net the game winner on the power-play by Matthew Ellis with two seconds remaining to come away with a 7-6 win over the Scotians. Penalties hurt the Scotians late as they led 6-5 with under four minutes to play until Jason Johnson also scored on the power-play to knot the game at 6-6 with 3:12 to play. The two teams were tied 2-2 after twenty minutes with Zach Houston and Nate Supryka netting markers for the Scotians while Matthew Raike and Dave Matthews connected for the Strait. The Scotians took a 6-5 lead after forty minutes with Jack Tompkins, Ryan Frizzle with a pair and Ethan Elms scoring for the Scotians. For the Pirates, Owen Stockdale, Dave Matthews with his second of the night and Matthew Ellis with his first of two scored for the Strait. The Strait outshot the Scotians 36-35.
The Scotians will wrap up their regular season Monday night in Pictou as the Scotians attempt to finish the 22-23 season above the .500 mark. A win would give the Scotians a record of 15-13-2 while a loss would leave them at 14-14-2. Either way, it could be the first of eight consecutive games against the Jr. Eagles who the Scotians will play in the opening round Best-of-Seven Rowe Semi-Final.
Antigonish 7 Cumberland County 2
The Jr. Bulldogs won their 26th game in 30 games as they concluded their regular season on the road at the Dr. Carson and Marian Murray Community Centre in Springhill with a 7-2 win over the Cumberland County Blues. The Jr. Bulldogs finished the regular season with 154 goals, the most any team scored in the regular season for an average of 5.13 goals a game. Sam Grant and Will Fitzsimmons putt the Bulldogs up 2-0 after one and then Luke Baldwin with a pair and Chris Keyes with his first of two provided Antigonish with a 5-0 lead before Callum Mccllelan scored to make it 5-1 Bulldogs after forty minutes. In the third, Chris Keyes scored his second and Will Mierau scored for the Bulldogs while Burke Beed scored the second Blues goal of the game. Baldwin also added an assist to go along with his two goals while Chris Keyes added a pair of assists to go along with two goals. Ben MacLellan collected four assists for Antigonish who finished the regular season at 26-3-1 for 53 points. The Jr. Bulldogs will now play the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates in their opening round Best-of-Seven Rowe Divisional Semi-Final. Watch for a complete schedule of this series on the website in the next 24-36 hours.