GrayJay Sports
League News
Blazers avoid elimination
One team staved off elimination while two others moved to within a game of being eliminated from the NSJHL Playoffs Wednesday evening. The following is a recap:
Sackville 2 Capstone 0
Conor Blackwood sizzled in the Sackville Blazer nets Wednesday evening before a home crowd as he paced his Blazers to a 2-0 shut-out of the Capstone Colts and force a fifth game in their Best-of-Seven Series Friday night in Shearwater. The teams battled to a scoreless draw through forty minutes before Degen Noble struck for a pair of goals for the Blazers in the last ten minutes of the third period. The Colts outshot Sackville 51-35 but simply could not get one past Blackwood. Conar Brace stopped 33 of 35 shots for the Colts who will now try and eliminate the Blazers at home at the old C.F.B. Shearwater Forum Friday evening. Game time will be 7:30. There was only three minor penalties assessed during the entire 60 minutes of the contest.
East Hants 4 South Shore Lumberjacks 1
Playoffs prove to be a bizarre situation for many teams who do so well in the regular season and the South Shore Lumberjacks who finished ahead of the East Hants Penguins in the regular season while defeating the Pens in all 4 games played between the clubs, are now trying to figure out how to win a single game against the Pens in the playoffs. The Penguins went up 3-0 in their Fred Fox Divisional Semi-Final Wednesday evening in Bridgewater with a 4-1 win over the Lumberjacks. To rub even more salt in the wounds, East Hants goaltender Marcus Pettipas scored the fourth Pens goal with 2:09 left in regulation. Pettipas stopped 30 of 31 shots while Keegan Greencorn turned away 32 of the 35 shots he faced with Pettipas’s goal being scored into an empty net. Hayden Tamm and Connor McNamara tallied first period goals for East Hants in the final seven minutes with the goals coming only 1:11 apart.
There was no scoring in the second period before McNamara with his second of the game made it 3-0 in the third. Brennan Coleman returning from an upper body injury scored to bring the Lumberjacks back to within a two goals before Pettipas’s killer into an empty net with 2:08 left in regulation to make the final 4-1. The two clubs now go back to East Hants Friday night for a 7:30 start with the Pens hoping they do not have to go back to Bridgewater Saturday night.
Membertou 10 Port Hawkesbury 2
The Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates team who took the ice before a home crowd Tuesday evening in the Strait was far from the team which hit the ice Wednesday evening in Membertou as the Jr. Miners after winning 8-7 in overtime Tuesday, humbled the Strait Pirates 10-2 at home Wednesday evening. The Strait were never in the game from start to finish falling behind 3-0 and 7-2 after the opening two periods.
The Jr. Miners blew the Pirates out of the rink on special teams, scoring if you can believe it, 3 short-handed goals while adding two power-play goals. Nathaniel Fuller gave the Jr. Miners a 1-0 lead 49 seconds into the contest while also adding three assists. Tye Clarke and Tyler Seymour added the other first period goals for the Jr. Miners.
In the second, Tyson LeFrense scored 58 seconds into the middle frame to give Membertou a 4-0 lead before Cadyn Power scored the first goal for the Pirates. The Jr. Miners then went up 7-1 on two short-handed goals from Sonny Kabatay and Jarett Hicks only 1:15 apart before Kabatay scored his second of the night with one minute left in the middle period. The Strait’s Dany Gillis tallied with 40 seconds remaining in the second to give the Jr. Miners a 7-2 lead after two periods.
In the third period, Jarrett Hicks scored his second of the game 1:06 into the final period of regulation before Kabatay finished his five point night with his third goal and second shot-handed effort of the evening. Alec Campbell concluded the game’s scoring for the Jr. Miners half-way through the final period of regulation. Membertou outshot the Strait 37-31. Brendan Connors was pulled from the Pirates net after playing 37 minutes and allowing 6 goals while Alejandro Pena played the final 23 minutes allowing four goals on eight shots. The Strait will try and avoid elimination when they host the Jr. Miners Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Only one game tonight and it might be the final one of the season for the Pictou County Scotians as they host the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs in Game four of their Rowe Semi-Final at 6:30 in Pictou. The Scotians have been outscored 14-0 in the past two games while losing the opener 5-3 in Antigonish last Friday night.