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League News
Colts take over 1st in Fox
It was a wild night of not knowing what to expect next as three games were played in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Friday, Nov 17/23. The following is a recap of some great games:
Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs 5 East Hants Penguins 3
The teams were scoreless after the opening period but the teams exchanged a pair of goals in the second period to leave the game tied at 2-2. In a span of 43 seconds, Brodie MacDonald and Will Fitzsimmons with his first of two on the evening gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead only to see the Pens rally with a pair of goals from Devin Meagher with his 16th of the season and Brodie Fraser with his ninth knotted the score at 2-2 entering the third period. Nick Marshall and Logan Durno exchanged goals 2:32 apart in the third period to tie the game at 3-3. Fitzsimmons finally put the Jr. Bulldogs ahead for good with his ninth of the season with 8:25 to play. Ethan Twoolan added an empty net goal with only 9 seconds showing to give the Jr. Bulldogs their 15th win of the season for 31 points, seven ahead of both Pictou and Port Hawkesbury. The Penguins fell to 12-4-0 and they fell out of first place following the Capstone Colts win on home ice.
Capstone 4 Eskasoni 1
The Colts alerted the Jr. Eagles they would not be fooling around despite their long trip to C.F.B. Shearwater, and as a result led 2-0 after the first and 3-1 after forty minutes. Liam Andrews scored both goals for the Colts in the opening period including a short-handed marker and then Trayner McCulloch within his goal and and assist gave the Colts a 3-0 lead before Keagan Geizer finally put the Jr. Eagles on the scoreboard with the score standing 3-1 Colts after forty minutes, The lone goal of the third period was scored by Connor Stewart of the Colts to make the final 4-1. Andrew Burke of Eskasoni played a scintillating game for the Jr. Eagles in nets as he stopped 53 of the 57 shots he faced. The Colts with their win improved to 12-1-2 for 26 points compared to the Penguins after their loss who stood at 12-4-0 for 24 points in the Fred Fox Division. Eskasoni moves onto Sackville to play the Blazers in a 5:30 start Saturday evening.
The Valley Maple Leafs suffered yet another heart-breaking loss Friday night at home….this time 3-2 to the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates.
At the John Paris Jr. Rink in Windsor, the Leafs lost 3-2 to the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates, in a game the Leafs outshot the Pirates 45-26. The teams played to a scoreless draw in the opening period with both teams registering nine shots. The second period was bizarre as the Leafs outshot the Strait 22-7 but trailed 2-0 after forty minutes after giving up a short-handed goal and another with only 1:06 to play. The goals for the Pirates were scored by Landon MacIntosh with a short-handed marker and DaveMatthews who continued his exceptionally steady play for the Pirates. The approximately 175-200 fans in attendance were anxiously awaiting the third period and it started okay as Ben McCarthy and Justin Banks teamed up after Banks took a pass from Kayden Kuryluk with less than five minutes gone. The Leafs however gave up a power-play goal to fall behind 3-1 mid-way through the third. The Leafs were far from finished as Kaden Kuryluk picked up his 2nd assist of the game on an outstanding pass to Nashon Thomas to bring the Leafs back to within a goal with 5:11 remaining. Tarran Baillie almost tied it for the Leafs when he was left alone in front of the Strait net but failed to connect. During the 22 shot barrage in the second period, Nick Oickle once and Cole Stewart twice were robbed by the Strait Pirates goalie. What killed it for the Leafs was a penalty for having too many men on the ice with only 1:09 left in the third period.The Leafs will go back to the drawing board in practice this week as Friday night’s game was the first in a five-game home stand which resumes Friday Nov 24 at 7:30 against the Brookfield Elks.