GrayJay Sports
League News
Penguins go to 7-1-0 and first in Fox
The East Hants Penguins moved into first place in the Fred Fox Division of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Friday evening with a 4-1 win over the Pot Hawkesbury Strait Pirates while the Pictou County Scotians moved to within 2 points of the 1st Place Antigonish Bulldogs in the Sid Rowe Division defeating the Colts in Shearwater 3-2 in overtime. The following is a run down of play Friday evening.
East Hants 4 Port Hawkesbury 1
Devin Meagher, Logan Durno, and Stephen Purdy all continued their strong play in the 4-1 win. For example, Meagher scored his 9th of the season to give him a tie for third place in the League’s scoring race. Meagher has alsocollected 4 assists. Logan Durno scored a pair of goals to give him 4 on the season in addition to 9 assists for 13 points and second place in the League scoring ace while Stephen Purdy has five goals and seven assists for 12 points. Degen Noble of the Sackville Blazers leads the league in scoring with 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points. Four other league players are tied with 11 points. In Friday’s contest, the Pens held 1-0 and 3-0 period leads on goals from Meagher, Owen Cleary and Logan Durno who notched the first of his two goals. Danny Gillis replied for the Pirates who fell to 2-4-0 and into a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Sid Rowe Division. The Strait Pirates actually outshot the Penguins 38-26 but had trouble finding the net the entire evening as Pens net minder Marcus Pettipas stopped 37 of 38 shots he encountered while Isaac Sparrow turned away 22 of 26 shots he faced from the home team. East Hants is now 7-1-0 on the season while the Cols loss in overtime put them at 6-0-1 for 13 points.
Pictou County Scotians 3 Capstone Colts 2 (overtime)
In what was a fast-paced game at the C.F.B. Shearwater rink Friday evening, Matt Carson scored in overtime for the Scotians to provide them with somewhat of an upset considering the Colts have not tasted a loss in the regular season to date. The Colts who now trail the Penguins by a point in the Fred Fox Division with their 6-0-1 record. The Colts actually grabbed an early 2-0 lead in a game that saw only 4 minor penalties called in 63 minutes + of hockey. The teams were scoreless after one before the Colts took their 2-0 lead after forty minutes on a pair of goals from Liam Andrews in a span of 3:09. The Scotians scored both of their goals to tie the game at 2-2 in the third. Joseph Mason struck 2:17 into the final period and Nate Supryka who also tallied an assist to send the game into sudden-death overtime. It took Carson just over 3 minutes in overtime to seal the victory. The Colts held a 41-36 shots advantage out ver the Scotians. Jack Cameron continued his steady play for the Scotians turning away 39 of 41 shots while Josh McArther stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced in the Colts net.
Eskasoni 2 Valley Maple Leafs 3
The Leafs gave their hockey fans something they really wanted and that was a win on home ice as they squeezed by the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles 3-2. Christopher Brown scored the game winner for the Leafs with 7:57 having elapsed in the third period. A power-play marker from the Jr. Eagles Joshua Novak gave the Eagles a 1-0 verdict after twenty minutes. In the second Connor Deluney who also tallied an assist tied the game for the Leafs before Terrance Toney putt the Eagles back in front 2-1. With slightly more than 2 minutes to play in the middle period Nick Goodwin’s power-play goal for the Maple Leafs sent the teams to their dressing rooms tied at 2-2. Christopher Brown’s goal proved to be the winner for the Maple Leafs who were on the power-play at the time. The Jr. Eagles pulled their goalie Patrick Hinchey with 40 second resining in regulation and played with an empty net for the remainder of the game. Eskasoni outshot the Leafs 37-33 with Leafs goaltender Jayden Croft stopping 35 of the 37 shots he faced. Patrick Hinchey in 59.20, stopped 30 of 33 shots. The Eagles and Brookfield are the only two remaining winless teams, the Elks at 0-3-0 and the Jr. Eagles at 0-4-1. Something will have to give Saturday afternoon in Brookfield as the Eagles andnElks clash in a 4:00 start..
Sackville 6 Cumberland 2
Thomas Gariepy despite suffering a loss was outstanding in the Cumberland County Blues Friday night stopping 55 of 61 shots he faced and kept the remainder of the Blues team energized. The teams were deadlocked 1-1 after twenty minutes and Sackville moved in front 3-2 after 40 minutes. The Blazers improved their record to 3-2-2 when they scored three unanswered goals in the third. Scoring for the Blazers were Degen Noble with a pair, Duggan Gauthier, Will Meek, Jaden Hardie and Juston Hardie. Daniel MacKenzie and David Ramsay tallied for the Blues who sit in a three-way tie for 3rd place in the Rowe Division with a 2-4-0 mark, it is the same record as the Strait Pirates while Membertou who face the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs tonight at home will attempt to go 3-3 insteaddof dropping to 2-4-0 as well.