Mole sensational despite loss.....two Game fives tonight | NSJHL

Mole sensational despite loss.....two Game fives tonight

Posted on February 28, 2026

By Dan Boyd

Mole sensational despite loss.....two Game fives tonight

One playoff series is now complete and two are going to a maximum five games following play Friday night in the Best-of-Five Preliminary Rounds of the NSJHL Playoffs. The following is a recap of play Friday:

Sackville 4 Windsor 3 (Overtime)

Sensational, Unbelievable, Incredible…..are only three words which can be used to describe the goaltending of Graydon Mole of the Windsor Oxen Friday night in Sackville. Despite his scintillating efforts, the Oxen coughed up a 3-1 third period lead and lost to the Blazers 4-3 on a last minute goal in the first overtime.

The overtime winner was scored by Xavier Rivard of the Blazers with 1:13 remaining as the Blazers on the power-play after the Oxen’s Cam Walsh took a tripping penalty with 2:07 left in the first OT. The Blazers were applying tremendous pressure around the Oxen net and Mole made three brilliant saves in rapid succession before Rivard banged it home to give the Blazers the win and tie the series at 2-2. The deciding game 5 goes in Windsor Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Mole turned away 58 of the 62 shots he faced including 20 of 22 in the third period as the Blazers outshot the Oxen 23-9. It was not a whole lot different in the overtime as the Blazers outshot Windsor 9-3 and for the game 62-39. Prior to the game-winner, Tyler Curnew went in alone for Sackville only to be stopped stone cold by Mole.

The Blazers tied the game with 1:16 left in regulation after Sackville rang a shot off the post only to have Ryland Skerry cruising around the net and slamming it home to knot the game at 3-3. Prior to the shot off the post Adam Maillet missed in very close. The Oxen found themselves a man short only 1:19 into the third and 46 seconds into that man advantage Nolan Fowler let a shot rip from the outside face-off circle and was denied and then Aiden Tucker missed in so close for the Blazers before Cam Walsh went in alone for the Oxen on the power-play with less than five minutes gone in the third period to make it 3-1 Oxen.

With 9:02 left, Dawson LaPlante took a great shot from the point that eluded Mole and brought the Blazers to within a single goal. Prior to the game-tying goal, Zachary Jenkins on a breakaway for the Blazers misplayed the puck at the last second and missed getting an excellent shot on net and then with 2:30 left, Mole robbed Logan Mitchell blind with a fascinating save.

Windsor went ahead 2-1 in the second period when Lachlan Levy tipped a shot from the point by Kaden Kuryluk and it went into the left-side of the Blazers net. The second period was the only period in which the Oxen dominated as they were outshot 19-8 in the opening period before rallying to outshoot the Blazers 19-11 in the second period. Braeden Shaikh turned away 36 of 39 Windsor shots including three brilliant saves after the Levy goal. He also robbed Cam Walsh with 2 outstanding saves in the final five minutes of the second.

In the opening period, the Oxen’s Micah Tucker scored the nicest goal of the game as he stepped around the Sackville defense and even though he had an Oxen to his left on a 2 on 1 split the Blazers defense and put it past Shaikh for a 1-0 visitors lead. After the Oxen took the 1-0 lead, the Blazers dominated the game’s first power-play outshooting the Oxen 4-0 with Mole just getting his night underway made superlative saves again and again as the Blazers were all over him on two occasions. Rarely seen but Nicholas Vidito fell asleep and made a bad give-away for the Oxen providing Jonah Rivard with an excellent chance only to see Mole step up again. With 4:10 left in the first and the Blazers all over the Windsor net again, Jonah Rivard scored to the the game at 1-1.

Game 5 in Windsor tonight with the winner advancing to play the potent Capstone Colts in one of two Fred Fox Divisional Best-of-Seven Semi-Finals. The opening game in the Best-of-Seven Sid Rowe Divisional Semi-Final between Pictou and Eskasoni starts tonight at 7:00 in Eskasoni.

Port Hawkesbury 6 Jr. Miners 3

The Strait Pirates with their backs to the wall came ready to play Friday in Membertou and avoided elimination with their 6-3 win over the Jr. Miners. Port Hawkesbury went up 6-1 before the Jr. Miners came back with a pair of goals 40 seconds apart in the latter stages of the third. The deciding Game 5 in this series will be played Saturday night Feb 28 in Port Hawkesbury at 7:30.

The Strait Pirates went up 2-0 after the opening period on goals from Jamie Daalder and a power-play effort from Carlin Samson, one of four power-play goals for the Strait on the evening. Brady Matheson brought the Jr. Miners back to within 1 early in the second but a pair of goals by Carson MacEachern made it 4-1 Strait after two periods. MacEachern also added an assist on the night.

In the third, Cohan Hickey and Cadyn Power made it 6-1 Strait, both with power-play goals before the two Jr. Miner goals from Brady Matheson his second of the night and Tyler Seymour. Matheson finished with a three point night for the losers as he also collected an assist. The Strait outshot the Jr. Miners 38-23.

East Hants 8 Brookfield 2

The Elks saw their season come to a close following an 8-2 thrashing by the Penguins. The game was never in question as the Pens grabbed 3-1 and 6-1 period leads and never looked back.

Chris Caissie had an explosive offensive night for the Pens scoring twice and adding three assists while Finley Diab scored twice and added two assists and Noah Comeau scored twice for the Penguins. Thomas Panopalis and Connor Stewart added single markers for the winners who now advance to play the South Shore Lumberjacks in a Best-of-Seven Fred Fox Divisional Semi-Final. Owen Cleary and Brady Croft replied for the Elks who lost the Best-of-Five series 3-1. East Hants outshot the Elks 53-46.

Mole sensational despite loss.....two Game fives tonight

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