Bulldogs fall to 3rd place in Rowe.....Caissie outstanding night for Pens

It is has been a considerable length of time, years in fact, in which the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs have occupied any place other than first in the Sid Rowe Division.  The defending Maritime Junior Champions are now trying to figure out how to reorganize and get back on top in the division after losing 5-4 in a shoot-out to the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates Friday evening in the Strait.

Luc Legere put the Bulldogs up 1-0 after one period before Liam Trenholm came back with a pair including a power-play marker in the second to put the Strait up 2-1 after forty minutes.  The Strait then scored two more in the opening seven minutes of he third period on goals from Cadyn Power and Jesse Gillis to take a 4-1 lead.  It appeared the game was slipping away for the Bulldogs until Antigonish rallied with three consecutive goals in the final 6:24 of the third period from Owen Flemming, Tully Grant and Gavin Clarke leaving the teams tied 4-4 at the conclusion of regulation play.  They played five minutes of sudden-death overtime only to still be tied 4-4.  It was not until the shoot-out that the Strait pulled out the 5-4 win as both Bulldog shooters Luc Legere and and Will McKinnon failed to score and Liam Trenholm and then Cadyn Power connected for the Strait to give them the 5-4 victory.

The Bulldogs are now in third place in the Rowe with a record of 3-2-1 for seven points while the Strait won their fourth game of the season to go along with four losses to give them eight points and second place. Both teams will return to play Sunday as the Strait travels to Pictou while the Bulldogs travel to Eskasoni to play the first place Jr. Eagles who own a 7-1-0 mark for 14 points. In other play Friday:



Colts  7     Windsor   3

It was a great battle for two periods Friday night at the John Paris Jr. Rink in Windsor, but the wheels fell off the wagon for the Oxen in the third as the Colts scored four unanswered goals while outshooting Windsor 19-5 to earn a 7-3 win. Liam Andrews opened the game’s scoring only 1:03 into the first on a wide-open breakaway before Jacob Gerhardt tied it for the home team with a wrist shot from he left face-off circle.  The Colts outshot the Oxen 15-14 in the opening frame.  Micha Tucker put the Oxen ahead 2-1 on a power-play goal only 23 seconds into the middle frame on a scramble in front of the net. Liam Andrews with his second of three goals on the night tied the game at 2-2 before Camden McKenzie put the Colts up 3-2 only 1:07 later.  The Oxen then tied it 3-3 on a sensational 2 on 1 passing play from Tucker to Nolan Fowler to leave the teams tied at 3-3 after forty minutes.

The third period was only 46 seconds old when Cooper Puma scored the game winner for the Colts on a nice wrist shot.  Connor MacPhee on a 2 on 1 play made it 5-3 Colts before Nolan Stevens and Andrews completing his hat-trick scored to make the final 7-3.  The Colts outshot the Oxen 53-34 on the game.  The Colts improved to 5-2-0 while the Oxen fell to 3-3-2.


East Hants   8     Brookfield   2


The Elks could only stay with the Penguins for the opening period Friday evening in Lantz as they outshot Brookfield 39-28 and outscored them 8-2.  Chris Caissie could not be held up at all by the Elks as he rifled home 5 goals while assisting on another pair to give him seven points on eight goals.  One of Cassie’s goals was short-handed.  The other Penguin goal scorers were Jacob Sanford, Jayson Hanson and Chris Brill.  The Pens first four goals of the game all came off the stick of Caissie.  Alex Field added three assists for the Pens.  David McElheran and Cale McCLellan tallied for the Elks who fell to 2-4-0 while the Pens are now 6-1-0.