GrayJay Sports
League News
Sensational goaltending in the Valley
Two outstanding hockey games Friday evening in the NSJHL which saw the Valley Maple Leafs record their first win of the season and the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs move five points in front of the second place Pictou County Scotians in the Rowe Division.
Antigonish 3 Capstone Colts 2
Kellen Fuller opened the game’s scoring for the Jr. Bulldogs at C.F.B. Shearwater only 1:04 into the game and the score stayed that way for the remainder of the first period as the Bulldogs won their 7th game in eight starts. It only took 26 seconds of the second period for the talented Cooper Puma to knot the game at 1-1 for the Colts but Tully Grant moved into a first place tie for the League Scoring Championship with his 5th goal of the season to go along with 7 assists for 12 points only 4:49 later and it was 2-1 Bulldogs. Ethan Twolan gave Antigonish a 2 goal advantage before the end of the second period. Grant was able to tie Nick Veinot of the East Hants Penguins for top spot in the scoring race.
In the third, Benjamin Veinot tallied for the Colts 1:56 into the third but the scoring stopped as the Colts and Bulldogs battled until the end with the final score being Antigonish 3 Colts 2. Adam Tkacz turned away 23 of 25 shots in the Antigonish net while Conar Brace was solid as well stopping 31 of 34 shots. The Bulldogs swing back into action Sunday night at home against the 3-4-0 Membertou Jr. Miners while the Colts travel to Trenton for a 6:00 p.m. start with the 4-1-1 Pictou County Scotians.
Valley Maple Leafs 3 Brookfield Elks 2
Jacob Gerhardt scored with 32 seconds left in regulation to give the Maple Leafs their first win of the season over the Brookfield Elks. Gerhardt’s goal came on a beautiful set up from Nick Goodwin and Owen MacDermid. Cale McClellan scored his second goal of the game for the Elks with 10:52 to play to knot the game at 2-2. The Maple Leafs in securing the win still had plenty of difficulties in the third period as they were outshot 20-4 by the Elks with Graydon Mole playing superlatively in the third, this after the Leafs had dominated the second outshooting the Elks 17-8. The Leafs went up 2-0 with 4:02 to play in the middle frame after Owen MacDermid and Jacob Gerhardt with pin point passing from the blue-line slid it across to Wilson Davison in the left-face-off circle who took a wrist shot which beat Elks Goaltender Thomas Gariepy high on the right side. Gariepy took over in nets after Elks goalie Caleb Oulton was forced to leave after making two spraying saves with nine minutes to play in the opening period. He stopped all five shots he faced but could not get back on his feet without assistance and had to be helped back to the bench and then across the ice to the Elks dressing room. Shortly after taking over Gariepy made perhaps the save of the year on Wilson Davison of the Leafs who was standing all alone to the left of the Elks net and let a blistering shot go that appeared to be headed to an empty net until Gariepy somehow got a hold of the puck to make the save. It was the kind of save that you almost had to watch on television to appreciate how spectacular it was. Nick Goodwin put the Leafs up 1-0 after twenty minutes, a period which saw the teams trade 13 shots apiece. McClellan’s tying goal mid-way through the third period for the Elks was somewhat odd as he flipped a shot at Mole which hit the lanky goaltender and went into the air, only to drop harmlessly behind him before Mole could fathom where the puck went and it slid into the net behind him. This one moment did not take away from Mole’s outstanding goaltending as shortly after Gariepy made the save of the game off Davison, Mole made two brilliant save in the closing stages on back to back chances to keep the Elks scoreless after twenty minutes. The Maple Leafs created some tension late in the game prior to their winning goal when Kayden Kuryluk took a needless double minor for kneeing with 6:57 to play in regulation, only to see his teammate Owen MacDermid taking a tripping penalty with 2:57 left in regulation which left the Leafs with a two-man disadvantage for 13 seconds. Effective penalty killing by the Leafs kept the score at 2-2 until Gerhardt’s winner with 32 seconds left in regulation. The Leafs are now 1-7-0 on the season while the Elks fell to 2-5-1 heading into their game with the Sackville Blazers on home ice in Brookfield Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. East Hants will also travel to Membertou Saturday night for 7:30 start.