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If not Omnicron-then Ole Man Winter

Ole Man Winter continues to interfere

 
This is the final weekend of the regular season of the 2021-2022 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Season and the unrelenting Ole Man Winter refuses to provide teams with a break as they try to position each other in as Best a Position possible entering the playoffs scheduled to begin March 1.
 
With snow pounding in certain parts of Nova Scotia and travelling conditions anything but ideal, the Capstone Colts and East Hants Penguins  and the Pictou County Scotians and Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirate Games have been postponed for tonight.  The Scotians and Port Hawkesbury will make up their game on the final night of the regular season Monday night in the Strait.  The Colts and East Hants have had to be cancelled.  The only game now being played tonight is Eskasoni and and Antigonish in Antigonish at 7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, a total of five games are on the schedule with the Colts in Sackville for a huge game with the Blazers.  If the Colts can maintain their eight-game winning streak and make it nine wins in a row, they could lock-down first place depending on how Sackville and Brookfield make out Monday night in Sackville.  With the Omnicron Break and the uneven number of games being forced upon teams because of the 2 month break and Ole Man Winter, the division standings are being decided by winning percentage.  The top two teams in each division will earn first round-byes into the division semi-finals while the other eight teams will each play a Best-of-Five Mini Division series to see who advances.  Other games Saturday have East Hants travelling to Windsor for a game with the Valley Maple Leafs, Liverpool hosting Brookfield, Pictou travelling to Eskasoni and the Jr. Bulldogs in Cumberland.
 
Sunday’s action will see Membertou in Pictou, Port Hawkesbury in Eskasoni and cumberland finishing a home and home with Antigonish.
 
The regular season concludes Monday night with brookfield in Sackville, the earlier mentioned game between Pictou and Port Hawkesbury plus another make-up game being played between Eskasoni and Membertou.  All games will be critical in determining playoff pairings.
Feb 25, 2022
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Jr. Bulldogs keep rolling

One can never predict hockey playoffs but if you look at the present day situation, it is going to be exceptionally difficult to knock off the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs for the Nova Scotia Provincial Championship and a berth in the Don Johnson Memorial Cup in New Brunswick in late April.  The Bulldogs continued with their explosive play Tuesday night in Port Hawkesbury as they hammered the Strait Pirates 9-3 and now stand 18-0-1 atop the Sid Rowe Division Standings.  Antigonish presently have three of the League’s top four point people in Fearghus MacDonald who presently leads the league with 16 goals and 23 assists after adding 3 assists Tuesday.  Sam Mattie is second with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points after his three goal and one assist evening.  Jake MacDonald is fourth in scoring with 6 goals and 24 assists for 30 points.  The only player not a Bulldog in the top 4 is East Hants Penguin Evan McHenry with 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points.

 
The game in the Strait saw Jayden Muise score a pair in the first period including a power-play marker to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes.  The second and third periods were completely different stories as the Jr. Bulldogs rifled off five unanswered goals, 3 from Sam Mattie and a pair from Ethan Price to put them up 5-2 after forty minutes.  The Bulldogs never slowed down in the third period as they outscored the Pirates 4-1 with Ethan Price’s third goal of the game short-handed being the final goal of the contest with 4:46 to play.  Jake MacDonald, Tyler Boyd, and Darren Waterman were the other Bulldog marksmen with Danny Gillis adding the third goal for the 7-9-1 Pirates.  The Jr. Bulldogs held a 47-22 advantage in shots.
 
Wednesday night’s game between Membertou and Eskasoni has been postponed until Monday night Feb 28, the final night of the regular season.
Feb 23, 2022
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Colts win 8th straight, rugged game in Springhill

Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Fans are in for some exceptional excitement this week as all teams fight and claw to finish in the best possible place they can prior to the playoffs beginning Tuesday March 1.  In play on the Holiday Monday.

 
Aidan Durnford was kept busy in the Valley Maple Leafs net turning away 55 of 58 shots but still faced the loss 4-2 to the Sackville Blazers.  Mitchell Comeau scored the only goal of the first period, a mere 36 seconds after the opening face-off but that was all the scoring until Dryden Schofield tied it for the Leafs in the second.  Before the middle period concluded Duggan Gauthier put the Blazers in front 2-1.  Half-way through the final period, the Leafs Ben Fleckenstein tied the game at 2, but that lasted only 1:15 when the Blazers Noah Healy tallied the game winner before Stephen Purdy put one into an empty net to make the final 4-2 Blazers.  The win for Sackville was their 13th in 20 games this season and keeps them five points in front of the second place Capstone Colts who play out of C.F.B Shearwater.  The Leafs lost their 12th game in 17 starts this season.
 
Capstone  10   Brookfield  2
 
The Colts won their 8th consecutive game dating back prior to the Omnicron delay as they crushed the Brookfield Elks 10-2.  Ryan Welsh scored a pair for the Colts who are now 11-5-0 for 22 points.  The Colts Josh Moore scored the only goal of the first period but they blew the barn door wide-open in the second period as they outscored the Elks 5-2 to take a 6-2 lead after forty minutes.  Welsh scored the first of his two and singles went to Will MacRae who also added a pair of assists, Cole Good who scored the game-winner on a power-play, Cooper Puma and Samuel Beaton.  Luke Fielding and Kyran Burton tallied for the Elks.  In the third period, the colts scored four unanswered goals with Welsh scoring his second and single markers being recorded by Brayden Hooper-Richard, Stephen Warwick and Ben King.  Brett Moore collected three assists for the Colts who will swing back into action with a pair of road games to conclude their regular season Friday and Saturday.  Friday, they are in Lantz to play the fourth place Penguins and Saturday in a special 5:30 start, they will visit the Blazers in Sackville.
 
Liverpool  7   East Hants  2
 
The Privateers won their 9th of the season and moved three points ahead of the fourth place Penguins with their win Monday afternoon.  It was a wild first period of scoring which concluded with the Privateers leading 5-2.  The Pens Evan McHenry put East Hants up 1-0 31 seconds into the contest but Liverpool came back with five straight goals including a pair from Daniel Kline which include the game winner and a pair from Kayden Nickerson with Dylan Patterson adding a solo marker.  Morgan Lake scored the second Pens goal.  Malcom Bussey scored Liverpool’s final two goals, one apiece in the second and third periods while also adding an assist.  Alec Howie garnered three assists for the winners who stayed one point back of the Colts in the chase for 2nd place in the Fred Fox Division.  The Privateers will conclude their regular season at home in Liverpool Saturday night against the Elks in a 7:00 p.m. start.
 
Membertou Jr. Miners  3   Cumberland County Blues  0
 
Ashton Paul with the game winner in the opening period and 2nd period goals from Alex MacKinnon and Brandon Grant was all that was required as the Jr. Miners won their 10th game in 17 starts this season.  Josh MacKay added a pair of assists for the Jr. Miners.  The game was unusually a rough and rugged affair for teams who had not seen each other in several months as a total of 169 penalty minutes were handed out including 4 misconducts, 6 game misconducts, 1 Gross Misconduct, 5 majors and 12 minors.  Membertou will conclude their regular season with a home game against Eskasoni Wednesday night and a road game in Pictou Sunday night.
Feb 21, 2022
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MacDonald nets hat-trick, Bulldogs notch 17th win

The Pictou County Scotians have taken over third place in the Sid Rowe Division after a huge 5-1 win over the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles in Trenton Sunday evening.  Zach Houston who also connected for an assist opened the scoring for the Scotians on the power-play with 5:11 left in the opening period.  It stayed that way until Thomas Simon struck for his 16th goal of the season with 38 seconds to play in the first to leave the teams deadlocked at 1 after twenty minutes.

Hayden Burgess proved to be the star of the game for the Scotians as he scored the game-winner short-handed with 8:26 to play in the middle period.  Burgess also collected a pair of assists and the Scotians went to the third leading 2-1.  Thomas Kennaley, Blake Kontuk, and Blake Rogers with one into an empty net completed Pictou’s scoring in the third as they posted their 8th win of the season against a triplet of losses to overtake the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates for third place in the division.  The Strait are 1 point back with their 7-8-1 record for 15 points.  As for the Jr. Eagles, it was their second loss of the weekend and 11th of the season to go along with 6 wins.
 
Antigonish  5    Port Hawkesbury  2
 
The Jr. Bulldogs on a hat-trick from Fearghus MacDonald, his 14th, 15th and 16th goals of the season carried the 17-0-1 Bulldogs past the Strait Pirates who actually led 2-1 after the opening period thanks to goals from Danny Gillis and Jack Neilsen.  A power-play marker from the Bulldogs MacDonald was squeezed in between the two Strait goals.  MacDonald added his 2nd and 3rd goals in the middle period, his third being the game winner and scored when the Jr. Bulldogs were playing a man short.  Jordan Etheridge and his Keyes who also added a pair of assists finished the scoring for Antigonish in the third period.  The Jr. Bulldogs outshot the Strait Pirates 46-37.
Feb 21, 2022
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Sackville gets a scare in Brookfield

With Ole Man Winter and Mother Nature hammering the province with weather, the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League had four of their first five games post-Omnicron postponed due to treacherous weather and freezing roads.  The weather relented Saturday after three games were sidelined Friday night and the teams got right down to business knowing the vital importance of every single point as they battle for playoff positioning, with the playoffs beginning March 1.  First off in Brookfield:

 
Sackville  4     Brookfield  3
 
The Blazers won their 12th of the year but they worked and earned every goal as the Elks fought them to the bitter end and actually outshot the Blazers 46-43.  The teams were tied at 1-1 after twenty minutes on Jack Meek’s goal for the Blazers and Coady Jollymore-Godfrey for the Elks.  Ben Fraser put the Elks in front 2-1 4:46 into the second but the Blazers rallied for a pair of goals from Noah Healy who finished the afternoon with a pair of goals and an assist and the Blazers took a 3-2 lead to the dressing room after forty minutes.  Brock MacNeil scored the game-winning goal for the Blazers less than 6 minutes into the third period before Luke Fielding brought the Elks back to within 4-3 mid-way through the third.  That is as far the Elks could take it as they saw their record drop to 2-12-1.  Both goaltenders played solid in nets for the 2 clubs with the Elks Pablo De Larringa blocking 39 of 43 shots while Bryon Ubberoi stopped 43 of 46 shots for the Blazers.
 
 
 
Liverpool   6     Valley Maple Leafs   2
 
It did not turn into much of contest in Liverpool as the Privateers struck early and often staking themselves to 2-0 and 6-1 leads while outshooting the Maple Leafs 47-22.  Daniel Kline put the Privateers up 1-0 after twenty minutes at the Emera Centre.  Joh Nicholson’s power-play markers gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead in the second before Ben Lawrence also scored on the power-play for the for the Leafs.  It was Jude Greenwood game winning goal with 5:22 left in the middle frame that put the Privateers in front 3-1 after forty minutes.  Liverpool scored three consecutive goals in third to go up 6-1 from Chris Meredith, Joe Osborne, and Greenwood  with his 2nd of the afternoon before the Leafs Justin Banks scored his team’s 2nd and final goal of the evening.  The Privateers are now 8-5-3 on the season while the Leafs fell to 4-11-1.
 
 
Cumberland   6      Eskasoni Jr. Eagles  4
 
The Blues and Eagles and Pictou Scotians and the Strait Pirates are in a tremendous dogfight for placings 3 through 6 in the Sid Row Division and the Blues are the only team who came out of play on Saturday with points.  The Blues did this at home in Springhill by defeating the Jr. Eagles 6-4.  The teams scored three goals before the game was three minutes old and they included a short-handed marker from the Blues Alex Griffiths and a power-play goal from the Jr. Eagles Adam Wilison just 20 seconds after the goal by Griffiths.  Zack Gould opened the scoring for Cumberland 29 seconds into the contest.  In the second period, Adam Fisher put the Blues up 3-1 only 2:27 into the second period before Jaden Martin and Ethan Stanwick tallied power-play goals for the Eagles to knot the game at 3-3.  Will Harrison made it 4-3 Blues before Jacob Denny tied the game once again for Eskasoni with 2:13 left in the second.  The Game-Winning goal for the Blues came off the stick of Jessie Estabrooks with only 16 seconds left in the middle period.  Ezekiel Cormier scored the lone goal of the final period as he added an insurance marker for Cumberland.  The win for Cumberland was their fifth of the season to go with 11 losses and 1 shoot-out/overtime loss while the Jr. Eagles are now just a single point in front of the Blues with a 6-10-0 record for 12 points.
 
Membertou  6   Pictou County Scotians   1
 
The Scotians Matt Carson ruined Jr. Miners goalie Hunter Chenall’s bid for a shut-out with 51 seconds to play in Saturday’s game in Membertou but the goal did not matter for the Scotians as the Jr. Miners had built themselves a comfortable 6-0 lead prior to Carson’s marker.
The Jr. Miners Andrew McCarron who continues to pay huge dividends for the Jr. Miners since being acquired from the Valley Maple Leafs scored once and added a pair of assists while other single goals were registered by Jarrett Hicks who registered the game winner, Brady MacLean and Ashton Paul on the power-play and Blake Cox and Coby McCarron.  The teams were tied 36-36 in shots on goal.  The win for the Jr. Miners was their 9th of the season against 5 regulation losses and 2 overtime/shoot-out losses to give them second place and 20 points while Pictou fell to 7-6-0 for 14 points.
Feb 21, 2022
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League Play finally resumes in the Strait

With Ole Man Winter forcing the postponement of Monday night’s game in Sackville between the Blazers and Liverpool, the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League finally got back into action in Port Hawkesbury Tuesday night after a two month delay due to the Omnicron version of Covid.

The Membertou Jr. Miners looked as if they had never left the ice as they dumped the Strait Pirates 8-3 at the Civic Centre.  The Jr. Miners took a 3-0 lead after the first on goals from Blake Cox, Brady MacLean and Logan Snow.  The Strait Pirates stormed back in the second to tie the game at 3-3 on a pair of goals from Quinn McClelland and Logan Saulnier only 24 seconds apart early in the second before Jason Johnson knotted the game at 3-3 with 13:01 to play in the middle period.  The difficult part of the game for the Strait Pirates was the short-handed and game winning goal from the Jr. Miners Josh MacKay only 1:03 after the Pirates and tied the game and Port Hawkesbury never seemed to recoup as Coby McCarron scored the first of his two on the evening to make it 5-3.  In the third, McCarron scored again and single markers were registered by Nathaniel Fuller and Brandon Grant to make the final 8-3.  Cox of the Jr. Miners also registered 2 assists and new teammate Andrew McCarron obtained in a deal with the Valley Maple Leafs was impressive in his first game with the Jr. Miners as he recorded 4 assists.  The Jr. Miners outshot the Pirates 39-38.  The Jr. Miners are now 8-5-2 on the season while the Pirates fell to 7-7-1.  Both teams swing back into action in what will be an exceptionally busy Friday night as the Jr. Miners travel to Cumberland, the Strait Pirates host Antigonish, Liverpool travels to Shearwater to play the Capstone Colts, the Sackville Blazers will be in East Hants while Brookfield travels to Windsor to play the Valley Maple Leafs.

Feb 17, 2022
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