GrayJay Sports
League News
Elks-Pirates go into overtimes
An exceptional night for hockey in the Nova Scotia Junior League on all three fronts. In Port Hawkesbury, the Strait Pirates won in overtime, the Jr. Bulldogs defeated what appears will be their stiffest competition this season while the Membertou Jr. Miners won a road game against the Valley Jr. Maple Leafs:
Port Hawkesbury 3 Brookfield 2 (OT)
In a hard fought game in Port Hawkesbury, Danny Gillis gave the Strait Pirates a 1-0 lead. It marked the only goal of the first period before Keegan Macumber tied it for the Elks in the second period. The teams exchanged goals in the third period as Sam Rogers gave Brookfield a 2-1 lead before Cadyn Power tied it for the Strait with under four minutes to play in regulation. With the score deadlocked 2-2 after regulation, it forced a five-minute sudden death overtime period and this is when Landon MacIntosh scored the give Port Hawkesbury the win. The Strait Pirates outshot Brookfield 40-28.
Antigonish 5 East Hants 3
The Jr. Bulldogs are now 11-0-0 following their 5-3 win over the East Hants Penguins at the Sportsplex in Lantz. The teams scored a pair of goals each in the first period as Brody Fraser opened the game’s scoring only 30 seconds after the opening face-off. Venel Campbell tied it for the Jr. Bulldogs before Morgan Lake put the Penguins back in front 2-1 on the power-play. Then with only 29 seconds left in the opening frame Andrew Murray connected for the Bulldogs and the teams entered their dressing rooms tied 2-2 after the first period. Only one goal was scored in the second period and it was by Nick Marshall of the Jr. Bulldogs. Will Fitzsimmons made it 4-2 Bulldogs early in the third before Devin Meagher brought the Penguins back to within a single goal. For a second consecutive game the Jr. Bulldogs scored with one second left in the game but instead of a winning goal, Logan McGrath added an insurance marker to make the final 5-3. East Hants now 10-2-0 outshot the 11-0-0 Bulldogs 44-42.
Membertou 5 Valley Maple Leafs 2
It was a sluggish game in Windsor with no team showing any signs of momentum or domination despite the Jr. Miners 5-2 win. Kaden Kuryluk put the Leafs up 1-0 early in the first before Adam Hicks, Landon Clark and Trey Sturge put Membertou in front 3-1 after one period. Blake Snow made it 4-1 Membertou after forty minutes as
both teams especially the Leafs had difficulty maintaining any type of control with the puck and so much play for them ended at centre ice when they were coming out if their own end That style of play continued into the third when Ryland Hanrahan scored to make it 5-1. The Leafs played with a two man advantage in the latter stages of the final period and finally added another goal, this one from Matthew LeBlanc. Membertou outshot the Leafs 48-45 but so many of the shots came from a distance or they were quite weak in front of the net. The Jr. Miners improved to 7-4, 2 points back of the second place Pictou County Scotians while the Leafs moved into last place in the Fred Fox Division with their record of 3-6-0 for 6 points compared to the Brookfield Elks overtime loss which enabled them to move 1 point ahead of the Leafs.
Three games are on tap today with Membertou trying fir their 2nd road win in a row., they tangle with the 4-2-2 Sackville Blazers. The Pictou County Scotians are in Brookfield for a 4:00 p.m. start while the South Shore Lumberjacks play in Antigonish this evening.