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Lumberjacks disappoint fans in playoff opener
Discipline was not in the cards for one team on the opening night of the 2023-24 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Playoffs. The defending champions eventually but only led for a short-time until there was less than ten minutes remaining while in the third game, it went back and forth and was not decided until late in the game. The following is a recap from Friday night:
East Hants Penguins 4 South Shore Lumberjacks 1
Before a great home crowd of 627 waiting anxiously for solid playoff hockey from their South Shore Lumberjacks, they left the arena deeply disappointed Friday evening as the Lumberjacks stumbled back and forth and lost 4-1 to the Penguins to put East Hants up 1-0 in the Best-of-Seven Fred Fox Divisional Semi-Final. East Hants took the play to the Lumberjacks in the opening period with only two small bright spots. They were Defenceman Aaron Lane scoring on the Lumberjacks first shot of the game 2:30 into the opening period as he picked up a loose puck directly in front of the Sackville net and snapped a wrist shot from 15 feet out to give the Lumberjacks their only goal of the game. With 7:38 to play in the opening frame, Penguin Morgan Lake took a deflected shot off a Lumberjack defensemen and broke down the right side all alone wth Devin Meagher trailing slightly behind him in what became a 2 on 1. Lake let a shot go to Keegan Greencorn’s left side which caught his shoulder and rolled out directly to Meagher who quickly tied the game at 1-1. The Lumberjacks showed a bit of life in the closing minutes of the first but could not do a great deal in being outshot 17-6.
The second period did not start well for East Hants as Owen Osborne rattled Nick Veinot of the Pens into the boards with a hard check 40 seconds into the period. There was no penalty called until the second time Veinot was slammed into the boards exceptionally hard by the Lumberjacks Ethan MacVicar. MacVicar was handed a five minute major for boarding plus a game misconduct and left Veinot laying on the ice suffering until he made it to his feet a couple of minutes later. He left for a short-time but did return. East Hants was buzzing all over and around the Lumberjacks net with 6 and-a-half minutes gone in the second but Keegan Greencorn stayed strong and the game remained 1-1. The Lumberjacks played their best hockey of the game for approximately eight minutes mid-way through the second as Daniel Kline was zeroing in on Marcus Pettipas in the Pens net only to be poke-checked at the last second. Pettipas then made a great save on Cohen Westlake from 5-10 feet out in front of the Pens net. The zip in the South Shore game seemed to end shortly after that as Kyle Hopkins took a needless cross-checking penalty. With 13 seconds left in the minor and the Pens controlling the puck, Brody Fraser parked one past Greencorn for what turned out to be the winning goal. Davis Cooper then made it 3-1 Pens with 1:17 left in the second beating Greencorn to his left side. East Hants outshot the Lumberjacks 6-5 in th middle period.
In the third, the Lumberjacks could not find any rhythm with the Pens scoring their fourth goal with 4:05 left in regulation and the Pens all over the home team’s net until Nick Veinot wrapped a shot home. The Lumberjacks did outshoot the Pens 10-9 in the third, their most shots in any period were still outshot overall 32-21. While the Penguins scored four goals to win it, they played as undisciplined as the Lumberjacks at time as each team finished with eight minor penalties but the Lumberjacks also had the major and game misconduct to make the total 47 penalty minutes issued in the game. Game2 now goes back to Lantz Sunday night for a 6:30 start with Game 3 back in Bridgewater Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
Antigonish 4 Pictou 2
The teams played a scoreless first period and it remained scoreless until Will Fitzsimmons scored for the Jr. Bulldogs with 6:30 remaining in the second period. The period ended tied at 1-1 as Carter Hood tallied for the Scotians with 17 seconds remaining. With 4:18 hang elapsed in the second period, Nate Supryka put the Scotians up 2-1 and it stayed that way until Antigonish connected for three straight goals in the final 9:36. Brodie MacDonald tied the game at 2-2 before Bradley Armstrong scored the game winner with 7:54 to play in regulation. Fitzsimmons put one into an empty net for the Bulldogs with only 22 seconds remaining to give him three points on the night as he also collected an assist. The Jr. Bulldogs now up 1-0 in their Best-of-Seven Sid Rowe Divisional Semi-Final outshot the Scotians 41-25 and now head to Pictou for Game 2 Sunday night at 6:00 p.m.
Colts 5 Sackville 3
The Blazers outshot the Colts 38-36 but fell behind 3-1 after twenty minutes. Degen Noble opened the game’s scoring for Sackville only 33 seconds into the opening period before Brady Stone, Noah Latimer and Liam Andrews tallied to give the colts a 3-1 lead after twenty minutes. Zachary Jenkins power-play goal brought the Blazers back to within one 3-2 in the second period. The Blazers Lawson Cook tied the game at 3-3 in the third but the Blazers were not able to keep the cat in the bag as Trainer McCulloch scored the game winner for the Colts on home ice in Shearwater on the power-play with 7:19 to play. It proved to be the game as the only other goal was Liam Andrews second of the night into an empty net with 23 seconds to play. Conor Brace stopped 35 of 38 shots in the Colts net while Connnor Blackwood turned away 32 of 36 in the Colts net. Game 2 in this series goes Saturday night in Shearwater at 7:30 before a day’s break followed by Game 3 in Sackville Monday night at 7:30 p.m.