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Bulldogs and Pirates win one-goal games
Definitely an entertaining night on three fronts in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Friday night. Two games were decided by slim 3-2 margins and the other despite 15 goals being scored had fans guess almost to the bitter end. The following is a recap.
Antigonish 3 Eskasoni 2
The Jr. Bulldogs improved to 5-1-0 on the season but it certainly did not come easy as it took Max Baldwin’s game winning goal in the third to sideline the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles 3-2. Arlen Denny of the visiting Eagles and Owen Juurlink of the Bulldogs both scored power-play goals mid-way through the first and the score was tied at 1 after the opening period. The only goal of the second period was by the Jr. Bulldogs Daniel Chaisson and Antigonish entered the third up 2-1. However Noah MacKinnon showed his team, the Eagles were not finished as he tallied 40 seconds into the final period of regulation to tie the game at 2-2. Baldwin then scored his game winning goal to give the Bulldogs their 5th win of the season. Eskasoni dropped to 2-3-0 with the loss. The Bulldogs outshot the Jr. Eagles 40-22
Port Hawkesbury 3 Capstone Colts 2
The Strait won their first game of the season in dramatic fashion as Cadyn Power scored his fourth goal of the season with 12 seconds left in regulation to give the hometown Pirates a 3-2 win over the Capstone Colts and improved their record to 1-3-2. Riley Henman scored for the Colts early in the first period and the score stayed 1-0 Colts until Aidan O’Rourke and Blake MacDonnell tallied in the opening ten minutes of the third. Cody Garcin then tied the game at 2-2 for the Colts before power’s game winner with 12 seconds left in regulation. Manny Strong stopped 25 of 27 shots in the Pirates nets while Conar Brace turned away 22 of 25 shots he faced in the Colts net who saw their record fall to 2-2-0 as they prepare for their game in Membertou against the 2-3-0 Jr. Miners. Nick Xidos picked up a pair of assists for the Colts in a losing cause.
East Hants 9 Valley Maple Leafs 6
The Penguins improved to 6-0-0 with a 9-6 triumph over the now 0-5-0 Maple Leafs. The Penguins led the Maple Leafs 4-1 after twenty minutes and outshot the Leafs 19-6. The Penguins severely out placed the Leafs in the opening frame and dominated play for lengthy periods of time. The game was underway when Lauchlin Levy of the Leafs was hauled down from behind and awarded a penalty shot but he could not capitalize on the opportunity. It was only a short-time later when the Penguins went uo 2-0 on goals from Alex Field and Chris Caissie. Field’s goal came on a dandy back-hand shot into the the top corner of the Leafs net. Caissie then made it 2-0 on a shot from the left-off face-off circle. Owen McDermid who finished the night with two goals and an assist for the Leafs scored his first on a rebound directly to the right of the Pens net minder Will Shields and he lofted it to the high right side and the Leafs were down by goal. It lasted only 2:05 as the Pens came right back and scored two more by Jacob Reigate and Riley McQuaid with McQuaid’s goal being a fairly soft shot which Jackson Murphy did not look sharp on in the net Leafs net. After allowing the the four goals, Murphy was replaced in the Leafs net by Graydon Mole with 5:13 to play in the opening period.
The Pens came out in the second and went up 5-1 only 54 seconds into the middle period as he scored on a beautiful 2 on 1 play. The Leafs knew they were in trouble at this point and something like a lightening strike hit them as they came back with two goals to trail only 5-3 after forty minutes. Cam Henderson and Ben McCarthy markers, McCarthy on a nice 2 on 1 gave the Leafs a substantial lift as they were skating harder and staying with the Pens, something they were not doing in the first period.
The third period began as the Leafs kept playing at a pace encouraging to all Leaf fans in attendance as Nick Oickle scored on a rebound and MacDermid followed that with his 2nd goal of the game and all of a sudden the game was tied 5-5. But, only 19 seconds after the Leafs tied it Diab put the Penguins back in front 6-5. It stayed that way until there was only 5:44 left in regulation when Wilson Davison scored for the Leafs to tie the game at 6-6 on a 15 foot shot, high tot eh right side of ens net minder Will Shields. Once again, the Leafs somehow could not hang onto the lead as only 45 seconds later, Noah Comeau made a sensational end to end rush for the Pens and beat all Leaf defenders before sliding it over to Chris Caissie who put it into an empty net as Mole was down down and out thinking Comeau was going to take the shot on him. The Pens then scored two empty-net goals in the final 3:09 as Ethan Hines scored the Pens 8th goal and Devin Meagher the Pens ninth of the game with only 0.88 seconds showing on the clock. The Pens outshot the Leafs 37-29 but when you consider the Pens 19 first period shots, the Leafs held a 23-18 advantage over the final 40 minutes.
Three games on the schedule today with the Leafs going to Brookfield to play the 1-3-0 Elks, the Colts in Membertou at 7:30 and the Sackville Blazers heading to the South Shore for a meeting with the Lumberjacks,