Playoffs underway....Oxen, Strait and Pens all up 1-0 | NSJHL

Playoffs underway....Oxen, Strait and Pens all up 1-0

Posted on February 21, 2026

By Dan Boyd

Playoffs underway....Oxen, Strait and Pens all up 1-0

It was expected to be a JimDandy of a Hockey game in Windsor Friday night as the Oxen hosted the Sackville Blazers in the opening game of their Best-of-Five Preliminary Series. Absolutely no question about great hockey and outstanding net minding from Oxen goalie Graydon Mole as the Oxen escaped with a 4-2 win.

The Blazers outshot the Oxen 42-22 but Mole made save after save to keep his club alive and in proper trim. The game was only 1:07 old when William Hartnell streaked down the left side of the arena boards and let a wrist shot go to make it 1-0 Oxen. Windsor pressured early and then missed two excellent chances. Micah Tucker then stole the puck off a Blazer but could not manage a quality shot. Before the opening period concluded Jonah Rivard of the Blazers missed on a breakaway opportunity. The Blazers outshot Windsor 12-9 in that opening frame.

In the second period, Mole made a superb save on Sackville’s Adam Maillet who played a strong game for the Blazers and Mole followed that up with another great save off Ryland Skerry. Later with the Blazers short-handed, Dylan Probert stole the puck and went in alone on Mole who made a stupendous save. Adam Maillet then missed on another incredible opportunity. The Blazers Tyler Curnew was checked heavily into the boards and had the wind knocked out of him as he laid on the ice for approximately two minutes. Jake Kuryluk drew a two minute interference penalty for the jolt into the boards of Curnew.

The Oxen took a 2-0 lead when Nicholas Vidito and William Hartnell set Nolan Fowler with exceptional passes and Fowler buried it home for the two-goal advantage. Things began to unravel for the Oxen with under two minutes to play in the second as Xavier Rivard snuck in unassisted to score the first goal for Sackville and moments later Mole made a brilliant save on Dawson LaPlante only then to allow a shot to slip through his legs from just outside the right face-off circle with 26 seconds to play in the second to knot the game at 2-2. The Blazers outshot the Oxen 14-5 in the middle period.

Both teams came out aggressive in the third period and with less than four minutes having elapsed, Lauchlin Levy and Wilson Davison on a dynamic passing play with Jacob Gerhardt put Windsor back in front 3-2. Aidan MacLeod missed a great short-handed chance for Windsor. With Sackville killing off a penalty with under seven minutes to play, Zachary Jenkins missed a golden opportunity to tie the game at 3-3 and then Matthew Shields on a great pad save by Brandon Shaikh kept the Oxen lead at 3-2. The Blazers dominated the Oxen power-play outshooting Windsor 3-1 but simply could not score. Then with 1:47 to play, Wilson Davison on a fantastic wrist shot beat Shaikh clean as a whistle to give Windsor the two-goal win despite being outshot again by the Blazers 16-8. Sackville pulled Shaikh with 1:17 to play but could not do anymore damage. Game 2 with the Oxen up 1-0 will be played in Sackville Saturday night starting at 7:00 p.m. with Game 3 returning to Windsor Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

Elsewhere in playoff action Friday:

Port Hawkesbury 7 Jr. Miners 4

The Strait took a 3-1 first period lead before allowing the Jr. Miners to tie the game at 3-3 only 23 seconds apart in the second period on goals by Rory Mills and Landon Clark. Carlin Samson scored four times for the Strait with one in the first period, another in the second and two more in the third. Samson also recorded an assist. Jesse Daalder scored another pair for the Strait and Carson MacEachern who also recorded three assists scored the other Strait goal. Landon Clark with his second of the night and Brady Matheson were the other Jr. Miner scorers. Tyler Seymour recorded three assists for the Jr. Miners who were outshot by the Strait 47-23. Game 2 goes tonight in Membertou at 7:30 p.m.

East Hants 10 Brookfield 2

Despite three impressive games to close out the regular season, the Elks were never in their playoff opener as they were hammered by the Penguins 10-2 who ravaged the Elks for a 6-0 first period lead and outshot Brookfield 42-28. Chris Caissie scored three times and added a pair of assists for East Hants while Connor Stewart who also added three assists and Finley Diab with a couple of helpers also scored for the Pens. Other East Hants goal scorers were Jayson Hanson, Cayden MacKeigan, Brady Kirton, Nik Xidos and Jake O’Connor. Aiden Nicholson contributed four assists for the winners while Ben Stewart and Bryson Currie replied for the Elks who return home for Game 2 Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m.

Playoffs underway....Oxen, Strait and Pens all up 1-0

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