League News

   

Privateers trying to stave off elimination

The Liverpool Privateers will continue to try and crawl back into their series at home tonight (Sunday) at Queens Place Emera Centre against the Capstone Colts at 7:00 p.m. after they avoided elimination at C.F.B. Shearwater Saturday night with a thrilling 1-0 overtime win over the Colts.  The teams despite firing 80 shots at each other - 40 apiece were scoreless after 60 minutes.  Co-Rookie of the Year Daniel Kline of the Privateers with just 25 seconds left in the Colts Ryan Welch’s tripping penalty scored for Liverpool to give them the win and force Game 5 tonight.  Carson Gallant and Dylan Patterson assisted on Kline’s goal.

Mar 20, 2022

Blazers gone - 4OT Thriller in Lantz

A quadruple OT Thriller in East Hants —
Another OT in Liverpool
 
Superlative goaltending throughout regulation and then four overtime periods in a game that lasted 113.42 before the East Hants Penguins Devin Meagher scored his 5th of the 21-22 NSJHL Playoffs and provide the Penguins with a 3-2 win and a four-game sweep over the Sackville Blazers.  Grant Sanford for the winners stopped 63 of 65 shots in the 113.42 while Bryson Uberoi stopped 79 of 82 shots in a game that will have fans in Lantz and those who watched it virtually on their computer screen talking years down the road.  The teams were tied 1-1 after twenty minutes with Bruen Fisher scoring for the Pens and Daniel Surrette for the Blazers 1:11 apart in the second half of the opening frame.  There was no scoring in the second but Brody Fraser put the Pens in front 2-1 before David Purdy tied it for the Blazers with 7:10 left in regulation.  That was all the scoring until the fourth overtime period and Meagher’s goal but there was plenty of exhilarating plays and sensational goaltending which kept fans on their edge  of their seats until Meagher’s goal.  East Hants won three games in the series by the skin of their teeth 3-1, 3-1 and 3-2, those all came after the Pens roasted the Blazers 10-4 in the series opener giving the Pens a 19-7 goals advantage in the four games.  East Hants will now await the winner of the Capstone-Liverpool series which the Colts lead 3-0 in order to see who they will play in the Fred Fox Divisional Final.
 
Capstone  2    Liverpool   1
 
The Colts will be coming back at C.F.B. Shearwater for the fourth game of their divisional semi-final with the Privateers tonight.  A win by the Colts will give them a four-game sweep and a berth in the Fox Divisional Finals against East Hants.  Friday night in Liverpool, Malcom Bussey opened the game’s scoring for the Privateers 52 seconds into the second period but it was the only goal they were to score as co-Rookie-of-the-Year Copper Puma tallied for the Colts and the game was tied 1-1 after forty minutes.  It stayed that way until Stephen Warwick’s goal 1:07 into the first overtime period to provide the colts with their win.  If a 5th game becomes necessary, it will be played in Liverpool Sunday evening as Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Committee has still not dealt with an appeal originating from Game 1 and the bad ice which forced Postponement of Game 1 after forty minutes with the Colts leading 4-0.
 
Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates  3    Antigonish  2
 
The 5th game of this series now goes back to Antigonish Sunday night after the Pirates tied it at 2 games apiece at home Friday night in a 3-2 squeaker.  Matthew Ellis and Sam Grant scored late first period goals before the Pirates Jack Neilsen scored the lone fo the second period for the Pirates and put them up 2-1 over forty minutes.  Matthew Raike tallied the game winner for the Pirates with 11:57 to  play in regulation.  Sam Mattie added a second goal for the Jr. Bulldogs with under 5 minutes to play but the Bulldogs despite outshooting the Pirates 43-25 could tie the game up.
 
Membertou — Pictou
 
The Jr. Miners and Scotians were all dressed and warming up on the ice for Game 5 of their series with the Jr. Miners leading 3-1 but shortly before the official start of the game, both teams were notified there were no officials assigned to the game and the game PPD.  It now moves Game 5 back to Trenton Sunday night for a 6:00 p.m. start.
Mar 19, 2022

Scotians collapse in 3rd - Pens looking to sweep

The Pictou County Scotians played a consistent 50 minutes of hockey in Game 4 of their Rowe Divisional Semi-Final with the Membertou Jr. Miners in Trenton Thursday night.  However, what happened in the final 10 minutes of the third period no doubt has many Scotians and their Coaching Staff scratching their heads as the Jr. Miners exploded for 5 unanswered goals for an 8-2 victory and a 3-1 lead in their series against the Scotians.  Josh MacKay who leads the League in the playoff scoring race scored his 10th and 11th of the playoffs to go along with 5 assists for 16 points.  Brandon Grant also scored twice for the Jr. Miners.  In the third, there was no scoring until Coby McCarron scored with 10:51 left to give the Jr. Miners a 4-2 lead.  In a span of 45 seconds, MacKay scored his second of the game and Blake Cox who has 4 goals and 11 assists so far in the 21-22 playoffs scored.  Cox occupies 2nd place in the scoring race.  After three minutes of scoreless hockey, the Jr. Miners demonstrated they were not finished as Nathan MacMillan who also had a pair of assists and Brandon Grant with his 2nd of the game scored 10 seconds apart to make the final 8-2 Jr. Miners.  Grant’s first goal proved to be the game winner and the only goal of the second period.  MacKay’s first goal was on the power-play and tied the game for the Jr. Miners at 2-2 with only 39 seconds to play in the first.  Dylan MacDonald tallied the opening goal of the game for the Jr. Miners.  For the Scotians Ryan MacLennan and Connor Aucoin scored 51 seconds apart with under five minutes left in the first period to put the Scotians up 2-1 until MacKay’s goal in the final minute.  Andrew McCarron garnered 3 assists for the Jr. Miners giving him 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in six playoff games to date and third place in the scoring race. The Scotians outshot the Jr. Miners 47-46.  Game 5 and potentially the final game in this series goes Friday night in Trenton at 6:00 p.m.  Elsewhere in playoff action Thursday night:
 
East Hants  3      Sackville   1
 
The East Hants Penguins will hit the ice in Lantz Friday night with the potential of sweeping the Sackville Blazers in their Fox Divisional Semi-Final after their 3-1 win in Sackville Thursday night.  The Blazers were up 1-0 on a goal from Noah Healy after one period but it was all the scoring they could do as Bruen Fisher and Marshall Plandowski added second period tallies to put the Penguins in front 2-1 and then Plandowski added his fourth of the playoffs mid-way through the third period for the final goal of the game and a 3-1 Penguins win. The Pens outshot the Blazers 42-38.  The Pens have outscored the Blazers 16-6 to date in the series which have included a pair of 3-1 wins.  If a 5th game is required in this series, it will be played Monday night in Sackville.
Mar 17, 2022

Caps-Liverpool play despite controversy

The Capstone Colts and Liverpool Privateers after tumultuous week of decisions going back and forth by the League Executive, the League Appeal Committee, Input from Hockey Nova Scotia and the League’s Board of Governors and after all these meetings, it is still unclear as to whether the Colts and Privateers will play one period to conclude Game 1 in their playoff series opener or whether they will be forced to play the game from start.  No one will know until Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Committee makes a decision.  In the meantime, the Caps and Privateers played game 2 in their series at C.F.B. Shearwater Wednesday night  with the Colts and the League's Coach of the year Justin Boone racking up their 14th consecutive win dating back to the regular season - 6-4 over the visiting Privateers.  The Colts now lead their series 2-0 with Game 3 back in Liverpool Friday night.  

 
Brady Crossley scored the first three goals for the Colts Wednesday evening to record a natural hat-trick, his first two goals came on the power-play but their 2-0 lead lasted only 11 seconds when Alec Howie connected for the Privateers.  Daniel LeBlanc then tied it for Liverpool at 2-2 before the first period concluded.  Crossley then made it 3-2 with less than 6 minutes gone in the second before Dylan Patterson and Carson Gallant scored 1:27 apart with five minutes or so to go in the second to give the Privateers a 4-3 lead after forty minutes.  It was all Colts in the third as they scored three unanswered goals off the sticks of Ryan Welch with 2:41 played in the third, then co- Rookie of the Year Cooper Puma scored the game-winning goal with 6:55 to play to put the Colts up 5-4.  Stephen Warwick added an empty netter to make the final 6-4.  Puma and Warwick both added 2 assists and the Colts outshot Liverpool 50-33.  In other playoff action Wednesday night….
 
Membertou  5   Pictou County Scotians   3
 
The Jr. Miners jumped in front of their Rowe Divisional Semi-Final 2-1 following their 5-3 win at home.  Of the 8 goals scored, three were short-handed, 2 of them by the Jr. Miners Nathaniel Fuller and Josh MacKay to put the Jr. Miners up 2-1 before Blake Cox scored the third goal of the first period for Membertou to make 3-1 after twenty minutes.  Connor Aucoin had opened the scoring for the Scotians.  AJ Ley scored the game winner for Membertou with 7:12 left in the second period.  Matt Chediac brought the Scotians back to within a pair with a short-handed effort with 1:25 remaining in the middle period.  Andrew McCarron made it 5-2 Jr. Miners in the third before Jayden Hatchard concluded the game’s scoring for the Scotians who outshot the Jr. Miners 40-29.  The teams return to Trenton tonight for Game 4 in a 6:30 start before going back to Membertou for Game 5 Saturday night.  If a 6th game is required, it will be Sunday night in Trenton.
Mar 17, 2022

21-22 League Award Winners Announced

Following a points system of voting by the coaching staff of the 12 teams in the NSJHL, the 2021-2022 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League have announced their award winners for this season.

 
The League MVP and Scoring Leader is Fearghus MacDonald of the AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs.  MacDonald scored 17 times and added 24 assists for 41 points as the Bulldogs went 21-0-1 during the regular season.
 
Top Defenseman — Ryan MacLellan - Antigonish — 4 goals and 14 assists.
 
Team Executive of the Year — Antigonish
 
Co-Rookies of the Year - Daniel Kline of the Liverpool Privateers and Cooper Puma of the Capstone Colts.  Kline scored 15 times and added 9 assists for 24 points while Puma scored 6 times and added 14 assists for 20 points.
 
Coach of the Year — Justin Boone - Capstone Colts — after a 3-5-0 start, they entered the playoffs riding a 9 game winning streak.
 
Most Gentlemanly Player — Bruen Fisher — 7 goals and 17 assists in 16 games and not one single penalty minute.
Mar 16, 2022

Musical Chairs have unlimited batteries

After two decisions, one to conclude the game after two periods with the Colts in front 4-0 and another by the League’s Board of Governors in an Emergency meeting last night to play the final period before tonight’s 3rd game at CFB Shearwater, however, it is back to square 1 before Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Board, meaning the status of Game 1 between Capstone and Liverpool with the Colts in front 4-0 after forty minutes continues to hang over the League like a grey ominous cloud.  Until Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Board Meets, it will be Game 2 of the Best-of-Seven Fox Divisional Semi-Final tonight at C.F.B. Shearwater.  Also on tap tonight will be the third game in the Membertou-Pictou County Scotians series that is presently deadlocked at one game apiece.  The Scotians and Jr. Miners collide in Game 4 in Trenton Thursday night while the East Hants Penguins and Sackville Blazers will play Game three of their series in Sackville with the Pens up 1-0.

Mar 16, 2022
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