GrayJay Sports
League News
Hang onto your seats affair in Windsor
There was only one close game in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Play Friday night and that was a one-goal decision in Windsor but streaks continued and there were a pair of shut-outs. The following is a run down of action on five fronts:
Valley Maple Leafs 4 Brookfield Elks 3
The Valley have now won seven of their past ten games following a 4-3 verdict over the Brookfield Elks Friday evening at the John Paris Jr. Rink in Windsor. The Leafs struck for an early 3-0 lead and were coming off a 4-3 win over Sackville Monday night after losing at home to Eskasoni last Friday by a score of 4-2. In Friday’s game, the Leafs forechecked strongly and skated hard in the opening period but could not come up great scoring chances until Jacob Gerhardt scored his 9th of the season only 4:27 into the opening frame on the power-play. It came during a bizarre minute of play when the Leafs were assessed a minor and then the Elks two minors all in a span of 59 seconds. The score stayed 1-0 after twenty minutes and the Leafs while not looking strong in the second period did score a pair of goals in a span of 4:31. Cameron Barnes and Ryan Coyle were both left alone to the side of the Elks net and both deposited shots to make the score 3-0. The Elks then began to show some steam as Ben Stewart and Will Singer struck in a span of 1:21 and all of a sudden, the Leafs were clinging to a one-goal lead.
In the third period, fans began rubbing their knuckles and becoming somewhat anxious as Keegan Macumbee tied the game at 3-3 for the Elks less than three minutes into the final period of regulation. The score stayed that way until Aidan MacLeod scored his third of the season with 5:28 to play and the Leafs hung from there to improve to 7-10-0 on the season for 14 points and a tie with the South Shore Lumberjacks for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Fred Fox Division. The Leafs outshot the Elks 52-49 with Graydon Mole stopping 46 of 49 and Cole Echlin 48 of 52 shots for the Elks. The third period ended somewhat out of the regular loop in hockey circles as Jake Kuryluk was handed a major, game misconduct and an instigator penalty while Jasper Fitch was handed a cross-checking penalty. Keegan Macumber received a fighting major and a game which left the Leafs playing short-handed for the final four minutes of regulation, that was until Nate Grafstein received a slashing penalty with 1:34 to play. Overall can’t wait to see what will happen next game but the Leafs won it 4-3 and will now prepare for their 18th game of the season Friday Dec 6 against the South Shore Lumberjacks which will be their final game prior to the Christmas break. The Elks and Leafs have played three times this season with the Leafs winning twice and the Elks once. Both teams have scored 11 goals against each other in the three games. They will meet again Saturday Jan 7th/2025 in Brookfield at 4:00 p.m.
Capstone Colts 5 South Shore Lumberjacks 0
Trainer McCulloch and Cooper Puma paced the way at home at C.F.B. Shearwater Friday night as the Colts whitewashed the Lumberjacks 5-0 and took over sole position of second place in the Fred Fox Division by winning their 10th game in 16. It moved them a point ahead of the Sackville Blazers who fell to 9-8-1 with their loss in East Hants.
The Colts with their win are now 6-4-0 in their past ten games. McCulloch scored his first of the game with 2:29 to play in the first after Camden MacKenzie had given Capstone 1 -0 advantage. MacKenzie scored his second of the game with 4:53 to play in the middle period on the power-play. In the third period, McCulloch scored again on the power-play and Cooper Puma finished the game’s scoring with 4:09 left in regulation for 5-0 win. The Lumberjacks continued their inconsistent play and have now gone 5-5-0 in their past ten games. Puma finished the night with his goal and three assists and McCulloch on top of is two goals recorded a pair of assists. Nick Morin also added a pair of assists for the Colts. Conar Brace recorded the shut-out for the Colts stopping all 31 shots he faced. Keegan Greencorn stopped 38 of 43 shots for the Lumberjacks but left the game with five minutes to play and was placed by Zack McInnis who stopped the only two shots he faced in the game’s final five minutes. The Colts outshot the Lumberjacks 45-31.
East Hants 5 Sackville 1
The Blazers continued a mid-season slump dropping their fifth consecutive game to fall to 9-8-1 and third place in the Fox Division, only five points ahead of the Leafs and Lumberjacks. Jacob Sanford scored the first of his two goals for the Pens in the first period to go along with Emerson Sheward’s marker for the Blazers to tie the game at 1-1 after twenty minutes. It was all Penguins the rest of the way as Devin Meagher scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season to take over the League scoring lead. He also has 14 assists for a total of 29 points, one point ahead of Owen Forsythe of the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs.
Sanford then scored his 9th of the season and second of the game in the their period to push the East Hants lead to 4-1 before Logan Durno’s power-play goal concluded the game’s scoring to give East Hants, now 17-1-0, the win. Tristan Boudreau turned away 31 of 32 shots in the Pens nets. Jayson Hanson recorded three assists for the winners.
Port Hawkesbury 5 Eskasoni 0
Manny Strong stopped all 29 shots he faced in the Strait Pirates net as Port Hawkesbury won their 7th of the season and now stand 7-11-2 but only five points behind the Pictou County Scotians for second place in the Sid Rowe Division. Landon MacIntosh recorded a hat-trick for the Strait scoring a goal in each period while Aidan O’Rourke and Colin Peryer added singles for the home winners. Kenzie Batherson added a pair of assists for the Strait. Andrew Burke stopped 30 of the 35 shots he faced in the Eskasoni net as the Jr. Eagles fell to 4-11-1 for 9 points.
Antigonish 8 Pictou County 0
It turned into a miserable game for the Scotians as they managed only 14 shots on Adam Tkacz in the Jr. Bulldogs net but with the 14 stops, Tkacz recorded his 8th shut-out over the past season and a half of for the Bulldogs. He has a brilliant 1.91 Goals Against Average for the Bulldogs this season. Kellen Fuller and Brodie MacDonald netted goals in the opening period for the Jr. Bulldogs. Antigonish came back with six more in the second on another from McKinnon as well as markers from Cohen Pictou, Owen Forsythe and Owen Juurlink. The Bulldogs added their final two goals of the game in the third from the sticks of Owen Fossyhe who finished the night with his air of goals as well as pair of assists. Brodie MacDonald added his second of the game for the game’s final goal. Zachary Lorette assisted on a pair of goals for the Bulldogs who fired 50 shots on two Pictou goaltenders in Brandon Connors who played the first 34 minutes before he was relieved by Eli James for the game’s final 26 minutes. A total of 158 minutes in penalties were handed out in the third period resulting in three misconducts, 1 gross misconduct, 8 game misoncducts, 6 fighting majors and 4 minor penalties. Antigonish is now 15-3-0 on the season for 30 points, 9 ahead of the Scotians.