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Scotians collapse in 3rd - Pens looking to sweep

The Pictou County Scotians played a consistent 50 minutes of hockey in Game 4 of their Rowe Divisional Semi-Final with the Membertou Jr. Miners in Trenton Thursday night.  However, what happened in the final 10 minutes of the third period no doubt has many Scotians and their Coaching Staff scratching their heads as the Jr. Miners exploded for 5 unanswered goals for an 8-2 victory and a 3-1 lead in their series against the Scotians.  Josh MacKay who leads the League in the playoff scoring race scored his 10th and 11th of the playoffs to go along with 5 assists for 16 points.  Brandon Grant also scored twice for the Jr. Miners.  In the third, there was no scoring until Coby McCarron scored with 10:51 left to give the Jr. Miners a 4-2 lead.  In a span of 45 seconds, MacKay scored his second of the game and Blake Cox who has 4 goals and 11 assists so far in the 21-22 playoffs scored.  Cox occupies 2nd place in the scoring race.  After three minutes of scoreless hockey, the Jr. Miners demonstrated they were not finished as Nathan MacMillan who also had a pair of assists and Brandon Grant with his 2nd of the game scored 10 seconds apart to make the final 8-2 Jr. Miners.  Grant’s first goal proved to be the game winner and the only goal of the second period.  MacKay’s first goal was on the power-play and tied the game for the Jr. Miners at 2-2 with only 39 seconds to play in the first.  Dylan MacDonald tallied the opening goal of the game for the Jr. Miners.  For the Scotians Ryan MacLennan and Connor Aucoin scored 51 seconds apart with under five minutes left in the first period to put the Scotians up 2-1 until MacKay’s goal in the final minute.  Andrew McCarron garnered 3 assists for the Jr. Miners giving him 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in six playoff games to date and third place in the scoring race. The Scotians outshot the Jr. Miners 47-46.  Game 5 and potentially the final game in this series goes Friday night in Trenton at 6:00 p.m.  Elsewhere in playoff action Thursday night:
 
East Hants  3      Sackville   1
 
The East Hants Penguins will hit the ice in Lantz Friday night with the potential of sweeping the Sackville Blazers in their Fox Divisional Semi-Final after their 3-1 win in Sackville Thursday night.  The Blazers were up 1-0 on a goal from Noah Healy after one period but it was all the scoring they could do as Bruen Fisher and Marshall Plandowski added second period tallies to put the Penguins in front 2-1 and then Plandowski added his fourth of the playoffs mid-way through the third period for the final goal of the game and a 3-1 Penguins win. The Pens outshot the Blazers 42-38.  The Pens have outscored the Blazers 16-6 to date in the series which have included a pair of 3-1 wins.  If a 5th game is required in this series, it will be played Monday night in Sackville.
Mar 17, 2022
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Caps-Liverpool play despite controversy

The Capstone Colts and Liverpool Privateers after tumultuous week of decisions going back and forth by the League Executive, the League Appeal Committee, Input from Hockey Nova Scotia and the League’s Board of Governors and after all these meetings, it is still unclear as to whether the Colts and Privateers will play one period to conclude Game 1 in their playoff series opener or whether they will be forced to play the game from start.  No one will know until Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Committee makes a decision.  In the meantime, the Caps and Privateers played game 2 in their series at C.F.B. Shearwater Wednesday night  with the Colts and the League's Coach of the year Justin Boone racking up their 14th consecutive win dating back to the regular season - 6-4 over the visiting Privateers.  The Colts now lead their series 2-0 with Game 3 back in Liverpool Friday night.  

 
Brady Crossley scored the first three goals for the Colts Wednesday evening to record a natural hat-trick, his first two goals came on the power-play but their 2-0 lead lasted only 11 seconds when Alec Howie connected for the Privateers.  Daniel LeBlanc then tied it for Liverpool at 2-2 before the first period concluded.  Crossley then made it 3-2 with less than 6 minutes gone in the second before Dylan Patterson and Carson Gallant scored 1:27 apart with five minutes or so to go in the second to give the Privateers a 4-3 lead after forty minutes.  It was all Colts in the third as they scored three unanswered goals off the sticks of Ryan Welch with 2:41 played in the third, then co- Rookie of the Year Cooper Puma scored the game-winning goal with 6:55 to play to put the Colts up 5-4.  Stephen Warwick added an empty netter to make the final 6-4.  Puma and Warwick both added 2 assists and the Colts outshot Liverpool 50-33.  In other playoff action Wednesday night….
 
Membertou  5   Pictou County Scotians   3
 
The Jr. Miners jumped in front of their Rowe Divisional Semi-Final 2-1 following their 5-3 win at home.  Of the 8 goals scored, three were short-handed, 2 of them by the Jr. Miners Nathaniel Fuller and Josh MacKay to put the Jr. Miners up 2-1 before Blake Cox scored the third goal of the first period for Membertou to make 3-1 after twenty minutes.  Connor Aucoin had opened the scoring for the Scotians.  AJ Ley scored the game winner for Membertou with 7:12 left in the second period.  Matt Chediac brought the Scotians back to within a pair with a short-handed effort with 1:25 remaining in the middle period.  Andrew McCarron made it 5-2 Jr. Miners in the third before Jayden Hatchard concluded the game’s scoring for the Scotians who outshot the Jr. Miners 40-29.  The teams return to Trenton tonight for Game 4 in a 6:30 start before going back to Membertou for Game 5 Saturday night.  If a 6th game is required, it will be Sunday night in Trenton.
Mar 17, 2022
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21-22 League Award Winners Announced

Following a points system of voting by the coaching staff of the 12 teams in the NSJHL, the 2021-2022 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League have announced their award winners for this season.

 
The League MVP and Scoring Leader is Fearghus MacDonald of the AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs.  MacDonald scored 17 times and added 24 assists for 41 points as the Bulldogs went 21-0-1 during the regular season.
 
Top Defenseman — Ryan MacLellan - Antigonish — 4 goals and 14 assists.
 
Team Executive of the Year — Antigonish
 
Co-Rookies of the Year - Daniel Kline of the Liverpool Privateers and Cooper Puma of the Capstone Colts.  Kline scored 15 times and added 9 assists for 24 points while Puma scored 6 times and added 14 assists for 20 points.
 
Coach of the Year — Justin Boone - Capstone Colts — after a 3-5-0 start, they entered the playoffs riding a 9 game winning streak.
 
Most Gentlemanly Player — Bruen Fisher — 7 goals and 17 assists in 16 games and not one single penalty minute.
Mar 16, 2022
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Musical Chairs have unlimited batteries

After two decisions, one to conclude the game after two periods with the Colts in front 4-0 and another by the League’s Board of Governors in an Emergency meeting last night to play the final period before tonight’s 3rd game at CFB Shearwater, however, it is back to square 1 before Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Board, meaning the status of Game 1 between Capstone and Liverpool with the Colts in front 4-0 after forty minutes continues to hang over the League like a grey ominous cloud.  Until Hockey Nova Scotia’s Appeal Board Meets, it will be Game 2 of the Best-of-Seven Fox Divisional Semi-Final tonight at C.F.B. Shearwater.  Also on tap tonight will be the third game in the Membertou-Pictou County Scotians series that is presently deadlocked at one game apiece.  The Scotians and Jr. Miners collide in Game 4 in Trenton Thursday night while the East Hants Penguins and Sackville Blazers will play Game three of their series in Sackville with the Pens up 1-0.

Mar 16, 2022
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It finally happened!

Any hockey fan knew that it had to eventually come……..a regulation loss by the AA Munro Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs after they went through the regular season and five games into the 21-22 playoffs with a record of 26-0-1.  The loss finally happened in Port Hawkesbury Tuesday night as the Strait Pirates rallied from a 4-1 deficit to defeat the Jr. Bulldogs 5-4.  Antigonish now leads the Best-of-Seven Rowe Divisional Semi-Final 2-1 with Game 4 back in Port Hawkesbury Friday night.

 
The Jr. Bulldogs certainly started strong Tuesday as the League’s 21-22 MVP and League Scoring Champion Fearghus MacDonald scored a pair of goals 8 seconds part in the first period to go along with a short-handed marker from Sam Mattie.  The three goals came after Lewis Taylor put the Strait up 1-0 1:03 into the contest.  With 3:)4 having elapsed in the second period, Luke Baldwin put the Jr. Bulldogs up 4-1 before the Pirates began storming back to tie the game at 4-4 by the end of the second period on a pair of goals from Cullen MacEachern and Taylor’s 2nd of the evening.  The Bulldogs could not get anything going in the third period as far as scoring was concerned despite outshooting the Strait 44-25 over three periods.  Matthew Ellis’s power play goals proved to be the game winner for the Strait with 8:34 left in the game.
Mar 16, 2022
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Penguins explode for 6 unanswered markers

The Sackville Blazers have gone into a funk of unknown proportions and are now trying to figure out how to get back into their Fox Divisional Semi-Final with the East Hants Blazers.  The two teams battled strongly through 35 minutes of hockey in Sackville Monday night with the clubs tied at 4-4 after Devin Meagher scored his second goal of the game for the Penguins.  However after that, it went straight down-hill for the Blazers who gave 6 unanswered goals including a pair in the final 2:45 of the second to AJ Guildford and Brody Fraser to provide the Pens with a 6-4 lead going into the third period.  The Penguins never relented in the third as they scored four more times on goals by Bruen Fisher, Morgan Lake and then two more in the final 1:03 by Nico Kane and Nick Veinot.  In the opening frame, AJ Guildford scored followed by Robbie Dowell before Meagher with his first of the game tied the game at 3-3.  3 of the 10 Penguin goals came on the power-play.  As for the Blazers Deegen Noble scored a pair including the Blazers first of the game, 30 seconds after the Pens had taken a 2-0 lead.  Noble’s second goal put the Blazers ahead 3-2 after Mitchell Comeau had tied the game at 2-2 for the Blazers near the end of the first.  The blazers held their 3-2 lead for 2:28 until Meagher as noted tied the game at 3-3 but it took only 37 seconds for the blazers to go in front 4-3 on a goal from Tyler Pottier which proved to be Sackville’s last goal of the evening for the Pens 6 goal eruption.  Meagher also assisted on 2 Pens goals while Evan McHenry collected 4 assists and Logan Colter 3 for the winners.  The Penguins outshot the Blazers 61-37.  Game 3 in this series will be played in Sackville Thursday night at 7:30 and Game 4 back in Lantz Friday night at 7:30 p.m.  If a 5th game is necessary, it will go in Sackville Monday March 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Mar 15, 2022
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