The Valley Maple Leafs lost 3-2 in sudden-death overtime to the Sackville Blazers Friday night. Degen Noble was credited with his 14th goal of the season after Leafs Goalie Jackson Murphy made an initial save before the puck landed down directly in front of the Leafs net. Noble essentially touched or pushed the puck toward the goal line with Murphy out of play but Nicholas Vidito made a great play in almost keeping the puck from crossing the goal line in full. However the officials ruled the puck had crossed the line completely. The Blazers won their 12th game in 25 starts while the Maple Leafs fell to 6-16-1. Zachary Jenkins put the Blazers ahead 1-0 with under three minutes to play in the opening period from a weird bounce/deflection on a blue line shot. Just 1:05 into the middle period, Nicholas Video scored a beautiful goal for the Leafs as he streaked down the Blazers right side and picked an open side to the left of Sackville Goalie Ben Etsell to knot the game at 1-1. The Leafs took a 2-1 lead into the third after Braedy MacKenzie rammed a rebound home to a wide-open Blazers net after Etsell had blocked the initial shot from the blue line. Then with only 5:41 remaining in regulation, Logan Mitchell tied it for the Blazers as he let a hard shot go from 10 feet out directly in front of Murphy. The Blazers outshot the Leafs 47-35 with both goaltenders playing exceptional games. The Leafs had a 15-14 advantage in the opening period with the Blazers outshooting the Leafs 17-12 and 15-6 in the second and third periods. In the overtime, the Blazers had a 3-2 advantage. In other League play Friday night:
Capstone Colts 4 South Shore Lumberjacks 2
The Lumberjacks were looking to move into a second place tie with the Colts in their game in Shearwater and got off to a great start leading 2-0 after the opening period on goals from John Shubaly and Captain Daniel Kline with his 15th of the season and moved him within two points of a tie for the League Scoring Lead. In the second period, Liam Andrews and Ryan Welsh tallied for the Colts to send the game tied 2-2 entering the third period. Andrews with his second goal of the game scored the game-winner for the Colts, not quite 7 minutes into the final period of regulation. Xavier Coggins scored an insurance marker for Capstone to make the final 4-2. Brady Stone, Nix Xidos and Nick Morin all assisted on a pair of goals for the Colts who are now 19-5-1 for 39 points, 4 ahead of the third place Lumberjacks and two behind the first place East Hants Penguins who play a huge game in Bridgewater Saturday night against the Lumberjacks. Klime later received a Gross Misconduct Penalty which certainly did not help the Lumnerjacks.
Port Hawkesbury 2 Eskasoni 1
The Strait Pirates pulled out a 2-1 squeaker over the Jr. Eagles at home Friday evening and in the process moved into a second place tie with the Membertou Jr. Miners in the Sid Rowe Division. It was a wild first period as the two clubs between them garnered 80 minutes in penalties drawing 6 game misconducts and four fighting majors after Marcus Larade scored to give the Strait a 1-0 lead. Chase Ellis made it 2-0 Pirates with his goal with six and a half minutes remaining in the second. Andrew Burke from the Jr. Eagles and Brandon Connors for the Pirates both played excellent games in opposing nets with the Strait outshooting the Jr. Eagles 42-30. The Jr. Eagles Noah MacKinnon ruined Connors shut-out bid with only 1:28 to play in the third period. The Strait travels to Membertou Saturday night for a 7:30 start to break the tie for second place in the Rowe Division.
GrayJay Sports