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Jr. Bulldogs clinch NS Championship
The AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs will be playing in the Don Johnson Memorial Cup in Cocagne, New Brunswick beginning at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday April 27 when they play their tournament opening game against the Moncton Vitos. The Jr. Bulldogs advanced after winning the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Championship in Lantz Saturday night in thrilling fashion with a 4-2 win over the East Hants Penguins.
The Jr. Bulldogs struck for a pair of goals in the dying stages of the opening period, the first from Ryan MacLellan and the 2nd from Luke Baldwin. MacLellan’s goal coming with 2:46 to play and Baldwin’s with 1:34 to play in the opening frame. Brody Fraser tried to bring the Penguins back when he scored 49 seconds into the middle period but it stated 2-1 until there was 1:04 left in the second when Sam Mattie did significant damage as he scored a short-handed goal which stood up to be the game winner and gave the Jr. bulldogs a 3-1 lead entering the third period. The score stayed 3-1 until there were under five minutes to play in regulation when Brody Fraser added his second of the game for the Penguins to make it 3-2. East Hants fought hard but could not come yup with the tying goal and with 10 seconds to play, Sam Mattie replied for the Bulldogs to give them their first Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Championship since 2006. Antigonish outshot the Penguins 48-39. Fearghus MacDonald after winning the 21-22 Regular season scoring championship, collected two assists Saturday in the Championship win but still ended up in third place in the Playoff scoring race, finishing 2 points back of Andrew McCarron of the Membertou Jr. Miners and one point behind Blake Cox of the Jr. Miners. McCarron collected 27 points, Cox 26 and MacDonald 25.
The Jr. Bulldogs will enter the Don Johnson Cup and face 2 New Brunswick teams along with the Newfoundland Jr. League Champions the Mt. Pearl Blades and the Prince Edward Island Jr. Champions the Sherwood-Parkdale A&S Scrap Metal Metros.
After their 4:00 game Wednesday, the Jr. Bulldogs will square off with the Mt. Pearl Jr. Blades at 12:00 noon on Thursday and then on Friday will play a pair of games at 12:00 noon against PEI’S Sherwood-Parkdale and Friday evening at 7:30 against the host Kent Coyotes. The top 4 teams from the round robin will meet in the semi-finals Saturday afternoon and evening and the Atlantic Championship Game will be played Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The Jr. Bulldogs will be aiming for their first Don Johnson Cup since they won it in back to back years in 1982-83 and 1983-84.