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Scotians win thriller in season opener
It was an outstanding evening of hockey on at least two fronts as the 2024-25 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League’s Regular Season opened on three fronts. The winners were the Pictou County Scotians on the road while the Capstone Colts and the East Hants Bitar’s Ristorante’ Penguins collected wins on home ice. The following is a recap of Friday’s scintillating action:
Pictou 5 Port Hawkesbury 4 (Overtime)
Only three goals were scored in the opening forty minutes by the Strait Pirates and Scotians with Pictou holding period leads of 2-0 and 2-1. The third period was a far cry different as the Strait Pirates exploded for three goals while the Scotians added a pair to leave the game deadlocked at 4-4 after regulation time.
Nate Supryka’s second goal of the game on the power play with 2:55 to play in the five-minute sudden death overtime provided the Scotians with a 5-4 win. Supryka also added an assist to mark a three point night. The Pirates were hurt in the overtime as Colin Peryer took a slashing minor 39 seconds before Supryka’s winner.
In the opening period Pictou’s Lane Lochead scored just 1:16 into the season before Drew Williams made it 2-0 2:40 seconds later. Lochead would also go along and collect a pair of assists. In the second period, Cohan Hickey scored a power-play marker with only 1:12 to play and it was part of a three point evening for Hickey who also recorded a pair of assists.
The first-half of the third period saw no scoring until both teams got their engines revved up for five gold in the final 10:51 of regulation. Cadyn Power tied the game for the Strait with 9:09 having elapsed in the third before the Scotians Matt Carson put his team back on top 3-2 only 27 seconds later Landon MacIntosh tied it at 3-3 1:49 later on the power-play before Nate Supryka scored his first goal of the game to put Pictou in front 4-3 with under five minutes to play.
In the final minute of regulation, Landon MacIntosh knotted the game at 4-4 as he scored his second of the evening with 25 seconds to play to send the game into sudden-death.
Eli James turned away 32 of 36 shots in the Scotian nets while Manny Strong stopped 20 of 25 shots for the Strait.
Capstone Colts 5 South Shore Lumberjacks 3
It took a three-goal explosion in the third period for the Colts to outmaneuver the South Shore Lumberjacks at C.F.B. Shearwater. Riley Henman scored his first of two goals for the Colts while also collecting an assist to open the game’s scoring for the Colts before Cody Garcin made it 2-0 on the power-play with 1:32 to play in the opening frame. That was not all the scoring as Daniel Kline tallied with a single second left in the opening frame to give the Colts a 2-1 lead after the opening frame.
In the second, Kline scored his second goal of the game for the Lumberjacks and the game was tied 2-2 after forty minutes.
Then came the third when the Colts struck for three consecutive power-play goals in a span of 5:58. Ryan Welsh scored the first two and Henman added his second of the game to give the Colts a 5-2 lead. While the goals were being scored, Aaron Lane had received a minor for roughing for the Lumberjacks as did Cohen Westlake and then Ethan MacVicar was assessed a match penalty which is a five minute major and a game misconduct while Jack Dulong was held to a two-minute interference call for the Colts. Brennan Coleman provided the Lumberjacks with their third goal of the evening with 1:42 to play.
East Hants Bitar’s Ristorante’ Penguins 7 Valley Maaple Leafs 0
This was a superbly played game for the opening forty minutes despite the Penguins scoring four goals in the middle period to take a 4-0 lead. Scoring chances were abundant especially in the second period for both clubs.
In the opening period Logan Durno of the Penguins broke down the right side and went in alone only to be denied by Leafs Rookie Goaltender Graydon Mole. The Leafs power-play then looked impressive as they killed off two consecutive penalties but they could not get their power-play amped up as they had a 5 on 3 advantage for 1:37 late in the first and actually began the second with 24 seconds remaining on a second Pens penalty. Ben McCarthy missed on an excellent chance in the opening period but was stopped stone cold by Pens net minder Fintan Boudreau who went on to record the shut-out. The Leafs were buzzing all over the Pens net when they had the 5 on 3 advantage but unfortunately they were more interested in passing than shooting the puck. East Hants outshot the Leafs 8-5 in the first and then were outshooting the Leafs 8-2 before the second period was five minutes old.
The first goal of the game came with 2:01 elapsed in the second period when the Leafs coughed up the puck on a terrible giveaway in their right face-off circle and Mole made two strong saves but the Pens kept pushing and eventually Jacob Sanford scored the first of his two goals on the evening to put the Pens ahead 1-0. Mole then stayed strong as he made three dynamite saves as the Pens continued to apply pressure until they were whistled for a penalty with 3:30 gone in the second.
Eric Vidito of the Leafs showed exceptional hustle and came around the Pens net only to be denied from tying the game at 1-1 as he missed by a fraction of getting the puck just up over Boudeau’s sprawling right pad.
The Pens then gave up the puck at the Leafs blue line and the Valley streaked down the ice only to miss twice on excellent scoring opportunities. It seemed to give the Pens a little wake-up call as they stormed back and with Mole down and sprawled across his crease, Jake O’Connor put the Pens up 2-0.
It stayed 2-0 and the Leafs were about to give in as Cody Hebb was stopped by Boudreau on a blistering bullet shot and Reese Smith was practically robbed blind directly to the right of Boudreau. In fact Hebb would have been about a foot out of the Pens crease when he was robbed. The Leafs missed in close again only to see the Penguins come skating back hard with Hayden Tamm putting East Hants up 3-0 with 1:29 to go in the second. A mere 26 seconds later the Leafs appeared to fall asleep in their own end and allowed Jacob Sanford to put the Penguins up 4-0. East Hants outshot the Leafs 18-12 in the middle period in what was a highly entertaining period with outstanding net minding and both teams showing plenty of end to end action.
The third period was kinda of like a skunk put in the room as the Leafs took the ice trailing 4-0 and essentially having no mo-jo as they were outshot 22-9. Sanford for the Pens just missed his hat-trick as he missed a glorious scoring opportunity in the opening seconds of the third. Ryan Langlois was also allowed to come in but Mole made an exceptional save on him.
The Pens wrapped up the game’s scoring on goals from Connor McNamara, Ryan Langlois and Nick Veinot who also collected a pair of assists to make the final 7-0 Penguins. Devin Meagher also recorded a trio of assists for the Pens.