GrayJay Sports
League News
Playoff spots now secure for all teams
With less than two weeks to go before the end of the regular season, the final two teams to clinch playoff berths did so Tuesday evening while nearly 200 Penalty Minutes were assessed in Port Hawkesbury.
Port Hawkesbury 3 Eskasoni 0
The Strait Pirates eliminated the Jr. Eagles from playoff contention in wild and wooly affair at the Civic Centre in the Strait Tuesday evening. The teams played a scoreless first period and despite the Pirates having an overall 43-24 advantage in shots, they could not find the back of the net on Andrew Burke on many occasions. Manny Strong recorded the shut-out putting the Pirates in the playoffs. Keir Jordan and Cadyn Power both scored power-play goals in the second period for the Strait before Cohan Hickey concluded the game’s scoring for the Strait in the third. Power besides his goal also collected a pair of assists on the other two Strait goals.
A total of 192 penalty minutes were assessed during the game including 82 in the first period, 84 in the second period and another 24 in the third. The penalties included six fighting majors, 2 Match Majors, 4 misconducts and 8 game misconducts.
Now that the Strait Pirates do not have to worry about Eskasoni catching them, the Pirates will still be focused on capturing third place in the Rowe Division. The Pirates have three regular season game remaining and trail the third place Membertou Jr. Miners by a single point as the Jr. Miners are 10-15-2 for 22 points and the Pirates 9-15-3 for 21 points. The Pirates and Membertou do not play each other in any of their three remaining regular season games.
South Shore 6 Brookfield 2
The Lumberjacks had to battle all season with the Valley Maple Leafs for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Fred Fox Division. It did not look as if it was going to be close after Leafs started 0-7-0 but the Leafs then pulled themselves together and stayed on the Lumberjacks hind-end through much of the remaining season, until last night when the Lumberjacks clinched with a 6-2 verdict over the Brookfield Elks.
The Lumberjacks broke the game wide-open in the second period scoring four unanswered goals from Joe and Owen Osborne and short-handed goals by Cohen Westlake and John Shubaly. The other two Lumberjacks goals were scored by Daniel Kline in the first period and Brennan Coleman in the third period. Kline, Joe Osborne, Westlake and Shubaly all contributed one assist each to go along with their goals.
Sam Rogers scored for the Elks in the first period and Hayden Richardson in the third period. The Lumberjacks outshot the Elks 45-36. Aaron Lane also contributed offensively for the South Shore with three assists.
The Lumberjacks now have three regular season games remaining with a 13-12-2 record for 28 points while the Sackville Blazers occupy third place with a 14-11-2 record for 30 points. The Blazers and Lumberjacks have one game remaining to play against each other in the regular season and that will be Saturday, February 15 in Bridgewater at 7:00 p.m.