The AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs are now one win away from advancing to the NSJHL Championship Series following a strong defensive performance before home fans in Antigonish Friday night as they defeated the Membertou Jr. Miners 4-1.  The two teams are going back to Membertou tonight (Saturday) for the 6th game of the series at 7:30 p.m.  The goal which did the Jr. Miners in was a short-handed effort by the League’s MVP Fearghus MacDonald  who tallied only 5:06 into the opening period and came only 32 seconds after Luke Baldwin’s power-play goal had given Antigonish a 1-0 lead.  Baldwin then made it 3-0 before Andrew McCarron scored the Jr. Miners only goal of the night with 1:29 remaining in the opening period.  The score remained 3-1 through two periods before Tyler Boyd put the Jr. Bulldogs by 3 just 1:06 into the third period and it was all the scoring the game would see as the Bulldogs won their third game in this Best-of-Seven Divisional Final.  The game was intense and chippy as 127 minutes in penalties were called including 7 misconducts and a major.  The Jr. Bulldogs are hoping they can catch a breather prior to the start of a provincial championship series against the winner of East Hants and Capstone but they will have to win in Membertou Saturday night.  If a 7th game is required, it will go back to Antigonish Wednesday night for a 7:30 start.  The Colts and East Hants Penguins with the Pens up 3-1 will play Game 5 in their series Saturday night starting at 6:30 at the Eastern Shore Community Centre.  Game 6 if necessary goes back to Lantz Sunday evening.

The Capstone Colts started their 21-22 NSJHL Season 3-5-0 and then a sudden turn around saw them win their last 9 regular season games and their opening 3 games of their first playoff series with the Liverpool Privateers for 12 consecutive wins.  The Colts eventually won their series with the Privateers in 7 games but their season is now hanging on a tree limb against the East Penguins who will try and advance to the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Championship Final when they resume play with the Capstone Colts Saturday evening at the Eastern Shore Community Centre.  The Pens took a 3-1 Fox Divisional Final lead with a 4-1 win over the Colts in Lantz Thursday evening.  The Pens did the majority of their scoring with three goals in the first period on goals from AJ Guildford, Ethan Wheeler and Max Turner.  Will MacRae tallied the lone Colts goal of the game.  Robbie Dowell scored the fourth Pens goal in the second period.  East Hants outshot the Colts 35-28 as Grant Sanford turned away 27 of the 28 shots he faced in the Pens net for the win.  If the Colts can force a 6th game in the Fox Division Final, it will be played Sunday night in Lantz starting at 6:00 p.m.  East Hants took 35 of their own shots at the Colts net.

Despite a superbly successful regular season, The AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs realize it is crunch time now and have learned a couple of lessons in their Rowe Divisional Final with the Membertou Jr. Miners.  The first is that they will somehow have to learn how to shut-down Andrew and Coby McCarron and Blake Cox and the second is how to hang onto leads.  Wednesday night in Membertou they suffered an excruciating loss to the Jr. Miners as after taking a 4-2 lead with 8:45 to play, the Jr. Miners came back with three goals, the winner with only 38 seconds left in the first overtime by Cox.  Dylan MacDonald scored short-handed with only 2:18 left in regulation to tie the game at 4-4.  Brady MacLean brought the Jr. Miners to within a goal on the power play with 8:32 left in regulation.  Jake MacDonald put the Jr. Bulldogs up 4-2 early in the third while Tyler Boyd, Ethan Twolan and Connor Doherty also scored for the Bulldogs who now find themselves tied with the Jr. Miners at two games apiece going into Game 5 in Antigonish Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.  In Monday night’s 7-2 loss to the Jr. Miners,  Cox, Andrew and Coby McCarron connected for a total of 13 points.  Wednesday night, the trio managed a total of 8 points.  Spencer Shebib was a key ingredient in the win for the Jr. Miners as he stopped 48 of 52 shots he faced as the Bulldogs held a 52-39 shots advantage.

The East Hants Penguins will be looking to take a stranglehold in their Fox Division Final Best-of-Seven series with the Capstone Colts Thursday night in Lantz  after a 4-1 victory Tuesday night.  A win Thursday would give the Pens a 3-1 series lead.  Logan Colter was the key guy for East Hants Tuesday with a pair of goals including the game winner in the second period.  Nico Kane and Morgan Lake also scored for the Pens who held period leads of 1-0 and 3-1.  Brayden Hooper-Richard tallied for the Colts.  Game time Thursday in Lantz is 8:00 p.m. before shifting back to the Eastern Shore Community Centre Saturday for Game 5 at 6:30 p.m.

The Capstone Colts and East Hants Penguins were deadlocked in a 5-5 draw with 1:25 remaining in regulation Sunday evening in Lantz in Game 2 of the Fred Fox Divisional Final.  As we have noted before, playoff hockey can be strange as overtime was not required, in fact the Colts scored three times sin the final 1:25 for an 8-5 win and they tied the Best-of-Seven Series at 1-1.  The score was 1-1 after one period and the Colts led 4-3 after forty minutes.  Tyler Puma was the big gun for the Colts with three goals and Joe Brown scored a pair for the winners including the game winner with 1:25 to go.  Tyler Puma recorded his hat-trick as he scored with 52 seconds left in regulation to put the Colts up 7-5 before Griffin Peers concluded the late game surge for the Colts with 19 seconds left in regulation.  Earlier in the final period, the Pens Evan McHenry tied the game at 4-4 with 6:36 gone in the third.  Tyler Puma scored his second of the game with 9:56 having been played to put the Colts ahead 5-4 before Bruen Fisher tied the game at 5-5 with 7:24 to go.  Other goal scorers for the Colts were Cooper Puma and Stephen Warwick.  Other scorers for the Pens were Brody Fraser, Logan Colter and Devin Meagher.  The Pens outshot the Colts 43-40.  Game 3 in this series goes Tuesday night at the Eastern Shore Community Centre with an 8:30 game start.  Elsewhere Sunday night: