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League News
Penguins rally for 19th win
Front-Runners Antigonish, East Hants and the Capstone Colts were all winners Friday as teams move into the closing stages of the 2024-2025 Regular season. Following is a recap of a heavy schedule Friday night across the League.
East Hants 5 Sackville 3
It took a pair of late third period goals for the Pens to win their 19th game in 22 starts 5-3 over the Sackville Blazers. Noah Comeau with 6:46 left in the game scored the go-ahed goal for the Penguins and Jacob Sanford followed with a power-play to provide East Hants with the necessary offence and hand the Blazers their 10th loss in twenty-one games. The teams played a scoreless first period and the Blazers jumped out in front 2-1 after forty minutes on goals from Mack Bursey and Tyler Curnew. Chris Caissie scored in between Bursey and Curnew for the Pens first goal of the game.
Devin Meagher then tallied his 209th goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2 early in the third and Noah Comeau scored the first of his two goals on the evening to put the Pens up by a goal 3-2. However 1:09 later Curnew scored his second of the game for the Blazers to tie the game at 3-3 before the Pens two late game goals. Meagher’s goal put him one point behind Lane Lochead of Pictou for the League scoring lead. There was a ruckus at the conclusion of the game in which 64 penalty minutes were assessed after the game had concluded. Two majors, 2 game misconducts, 3 misconducts and 2 minor penalties were assessed.
Membertou 6 Port Hawkesbury 5
In a really see-saw affair, the Jr. Miners finally pulled out a hard fought 6-5 verdict over the Pirates in the Strait. The teams were tied 1-1 and 3-3 after the opening two periods and then the Jr. Miners outscored the Strait 3-2 in the third with Alex Chenhall scoring the game winner with 4:34 left in regulation. 1:10 later Landon Clark scored his second of the evening to go along with an assist to put the Jr. Miners up 6-4. The Strait wasn’t finished however as Leo MacLean scored his second of the night to go along with 2 assists with 1:17 remaining. The Pirates could not get any closer and lost 6-5. MacLean and Jarred Hicks for the Jr. Miners traded goals in the opening period. In the second Colin Peryer and Cadyn Power on the power-play scored for Port Hawkesbury while Landon Clark with his first of the game and Adam Hicks notched goals for Membertou. The Jr. Miners went up 4-3 on Ty Oliver’s goal before Cadyn Power with his second of the game tied the game at 4-4 in the third. Liam Trenholm assisted on 4 of the Strait’s five goals while Ryland Hanrahan collected 3 assists for the Strait. The Jr. Miners outshot the Strait 38-32 and are 8-12-1 on the season and only two points behind the 8-13-3 Strait Pirates in the battle for third place in the Rowe Division.
Capstone Colts 5 Valley Maple Leafs 3
It was a wild and wooly affair in Windsor as the Leafs who were outshot severely by the Colts 69-28, stayed in the game until the final 10 seconds of the second period when an unfortunate incident happened. Leafs defensemen Kayden Kuryluk caught a Colts defender with his elbow followed by his stick to the face which put the Colts defender down flat on the ice for at least two minutes. Play continued with the Colts still having possession and with one second left in the second period, Liam Andrews scored for the Colts to tie the game at 3-3. Andrews goal was a power-play as a Leaf was already serving a minor penalty. After the Kuryluk incident, he was assessed a major penalty for head contact and a game misconduct at the conclusion of the second period. The Colts began the third with a five-minute power-play and scored again to give him 15 goals on the season to put the Colts up 4-3. Luke Hawrylak concluded the game’s scoring for the Colts on a shot from the point to give them their 16th win in 23 games. The Colts led 2-1 after the opening period on goals from Luke McPhee and Jacob Trioni-Willis on a sensational 3 on 1 passing play. The Leafs tied the game at 2-2 on Dylan Manning’s breakaway short-handed goal before Nick Oickle scored his 6th of the season to put the Leafs in front 3-2. Oickle’s goal coming on a nice shot from the left face-off circle. Andrews also collected an assist to go along with his pair of goals while Cooper Puma collected three assists to move into fourth place in the League scoring race. Puma has 8 goals and 23 assists for 31 points, 5 back of Leader Lane Lochead. As a result of the major and game misconduct, Kuryluk has been suspended by the League for the next 2 Leaf games.
Antigonish 6 Pictou 3
The Jr. Bulldogs won their 19th of the season in 22 games as they scored three unanswered goals in the third period to double up the Pictou County Scotians 6-3 in Antigonish. Daniel Chiasson and Will McKinnon’s short-handed goal gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes before the Scotians came back and outscored the Jr. Bulldogs 3-1 in the middle period on goals from Brett Murphy, Matt Carson and Jack Tompkins. Owen Flemming’s goal on the power-play was the only marker for Antigonish. In the third, Tully Grant, Luc Sampson and Ethan Twolan all scored for the Bulldogs. Venel Campbell collected for 4 assists for Antigonish while Lane Lochead took over sole position of first place in the League scoring race collecting a pair of assists to give him a dozen goals and 24 assists on the season for 36 points. The Bulldogs outshot the Scotians 35-24.