Lumberjacks win in SO - Pirates try to keep pace with Jr. Eagles but fail | NSJHL

Lumberjacks win in SO - Pirates try to keep pace with Jr. Eagles but fail

Posted on January 29, 2026

By Dan Boyd

Lumberjacks win in SO - Pirates try to keep pace with Jr. Eagles but fail

Just when it appears the Capstone Colts are about to clinch first place in the Fred Fox Division of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League, the South Shore Lumberjacks come back and say, “it’s not over yet.”

The two most recent examples were a pair of Lumberjack wins, one in overtime and the other in a shoot-out to pull the South Shore to within six points of top spot in the Fox Division with four games in hand on the Colts.

Wednesday evening in a make-up game at C.F.B. Shearwater Forum, the Lumberjacks started exceptionally strong staking themselves to a 4-0 lead after twenty minutes on goals from Jackson Spraggon, Evan Amirault, Brandon Rideout and Leo MacLean with the latter two being power-play goals.

However, never count the Colts out and they proved that by rallying from 4 goals down to tie the game at 4-4 after regulation time. In the second period Camden McKenzie, Jack Dulong and Liam Andrews Short-handed goal put the Colts down a goal after forty minutes. Finn Merritt tied the game at 4-4 in the third for the Colts which sent the game to sudden-death overtime. The teams could not decide anything in the five minutes, forcing a shoot-out.

The shoot-out lasted almost seven rounds with the Colts scoring twice on their initial six shots and the Lumberjacks Jackson Spraggon netting the game winner on the Lumberjacks 7th shot. South Shore outshot the Colts 43-35 and it was a game in which 130 penalty minutes were assessed including 76 in the second period. The Colts are now 21-4-2 for 44 points while the Lumberjacks are 19-4-0 for 38 points. The Lumberjacks swing back into action this weekend with a pair of games, one at home to East Hants Saturday night before travelling to Sackville Monday night. The Colts meanwhile are now idle until Feb 6th when they host the East Hants Penguins.

Eskasoni 6 Port Hawkesbury 4

The Strait Pirates in another make-up game Wednesday night were able to stay with the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles through the game’s opening 45 minutes but three late goals by the Jr. Eagles provided them with their 17th win of the season in 24 games and enabled them to take a five point lead over the second place Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs in the Sid Rowe Division.

James Daaler playing in only his third career Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League game scored once and assisted on another while Angus Berry also connected putting the Strait up 2-0. Mitchell Gould replied for the Jr. Eagles to provide a 2-1 Port Hawkesbury lead after one period.

In the second, Keegan O’Neill scored for Eskasoni to knot the game at 2-2 after forty minutes. In the third Craig Saulnier who also garnered two assists on the night scored to put the Strait up 3-2 but Mitchell Gould’s power-play marker knotted the game again at 3-3. Early in the third, Josh Gillis made it 4-3 Strait before the Jr. Eagles scored three straight on markers from Tyson LeFrense, Keegan O’Neill with his second and Aidan Stanwick. Marcellus Francis contributed 3 assists for the Jr. Eagles who outshot the Strait 48-26.

Lumberjacks win in SO - Pirates try to keep pace with Jr. Eagles but fail

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