190 of the 192 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Games for the 2023-2024 season are now complete. The season should have concluded Sunday but weather postponements are forcing the regular season to go two more days. In Membertou this evening, the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates and Jr. Miners will conclude their regular season. There was quite a battle for 2nd place for a number of weeks between the Jr. Miners and Strait but the Jr. Miners eventually pulled ahead and go into Monday night’s game with a record of 20-10-1 for 41 points while the Strait are 17-13-1 for 35 points. These same two clubs will play one Sid Rowe Divisional Semi-Final while Pictou and Antigonish will clash in the other Best-of-Seven Semi-Final. There were two make-up games in the Fred Fox Division Sunday: The following is a recap:
South Shore Lumberjacks 4 Capstone Colts 3
The Colts were hoping to garner their 25th win of the season but were squeezed 4-3 by the Lumberjacks who ended up finishing one point behind the Colts in the chase for First Place all season long. The Colts finished 24-6-2 for 50 points and the Lumberjacks 24-7-1 for 49 points. The Lumberjacks jumped in front 3-2 after twenty minutes Sunday afternoon in Bridgewater as Alec Howie, Daniel Kline on the power-play and Elijah Leinwand scored for the home team. Liam Andrews took over the League Goal Scoring lead with his 24th of the season and Braden Cheney were the Colt scorers.
In the second Benjamin Veinot tied the game at 3-3 for the Colts only 9 seconds into the period while Daniel LeBlanc netted the game winner for the Lumberjacks. There was no scoring done in the third period. Alec Howie’s 1 goal and 2 assists saw him finish the season with 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points but he had to settle for third place in the League Scoring Race with 40 points. Lumberjacks teammate Cohen Westlake tallied 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points, 3 back of League Scoring Champion Nate Supryka of the Pictou County Scotians who finished the season with 20 goals and 24 assists for 44 points. The Colts will now play Sackville in the opening round of the Fred Fox Divisional Semi-Finals with Games 1 and 2 scheduled for C.F.B. Shearwater this weekend. South Shore and East Hants who finished three back of the Lumberjacks in third place at 22-8-2 for 46 points will play in the second Fox Semi-Final and will begin Friday night in Bridgewater.
Brookfield 5 East Hants 4 (Shoot-out)
The Elks jumped out to a 4-1 lead after one period Sunday evening but eventually coughed that lead up and allowed the Pens to tie it at 4-4 with a pair of goals in the final 5 minutes. McClellan Cale who scored three in Windsor against the Valley Maple Leafs Friday night, scored two more Sunday evening in the opening period to give him five goals in his past two games. Other Elk goal scorers in the first were Daniel McKenzie and Aiden Gloade. Brody Fraser scored two of the final Penguin goals in the second and third period while Connor Pierce scored the other East Hants goal. There was no scoring in the five-minute sudden-death overtime and it took four rounds of a shoot-out before the game was decided on a goal by Jayden Matheson after Blake Irvine had missed for the Penguins. The clubs were tied 1-1 after each team had three attempts. The Elks win was their 10th of the season to go along with 18 losses and 3 overtime/shoot-out losses as they prepare to play the Sackville Blazers in the final game of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Regular Season Tuesday night in Brookfield at 8:30 p.m. A full playoff-schedule will be posted on this website in the next 24-48 hours as fans begin to anticipate the very best time of year in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey.
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