Colts take Fox Division....Game 7 in Antigonish Thursday

The Antigonish Bulldogs nearly overcame a 5-1 deficit and the Capstone Colts have now advanced to their second consecutive provincial championship series in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League.  The following is a rundown of action Saturday night:

 

 

Eskasoni   6         Antigonish   5

 

The Jr. Eagles were facing elimination in their Sid Rowe Division Final against the Antigonish Bulldogs.  They entered the game down 3-2 in their Best-of-Seven series after a 5-2 win in the University Town Friday night.

 

The Eagles built themselves a healthy 5-1 lead with only 5:49 having been played in the second period but had to hang on for dear life as the Bulldogs rallied before the Jr. Eagles finally escaped with a 6-5 win to tie their series at 3-3 and send the series back to Antigonish Wednesday night for a 7th and deciding game.

 

Antigonish outshot the Jr. Eagles 38-28 but trailed 2-1 after the opening period as Keegan O’Neill and Keagan Geizer tallied for Eskasoni and Will Normandeau for the Bulldogs.

 

Eskasoni certainly came to play in the second as they were on fire with Noah MacKinnon and Kendrick Marshall with two power-play

goals staking the Jr. Eagles to a 5-1 lead.  Owen Forsythe then brought Antigonish back to within 3 goals before Matthew Burke scored the eventual game winner with three minutes to play in the middle period to give Eskasoni a four-goal lead once again.  However the Bulldogs were not finished and Cameron Bell connected with 12 seconds to play in the second to send the Jr. Bulldogs to the dressing room down 3 goals entering the third period.

 

Antigonish came out ready to play while Eskasoni obviously wanted to hold onto their three-goal lead.  Daniel Chaisson’s power-play goal less than seven minutes into the third brought the Bulldogs back to within a pair before Will MacKinnon brought the Bulldogs to within a single with slightly more than seven minutes to play.  It was as far as the Bulldogs could get as they lost 6-5.  A seventh and deciding game will now go Thursday night in Antigonish at 7:00 p.m.  Kendrick Marshall had a three point night for the Jr. Eagles as he had an assist to go along with his pair of goals.  Keegan O’Neill also had an assist to go along with his goal while Mitchell Gould and Jesse Cathcart both recorded a pair assists for Eskasoni.  For the Bulldogs, Owen Forsythe besides his goal also recorded three assists while Will Normandeau recorded an assist to go along with his goal and Owen Juurlink recorded a pair of assists.

 

 

 

Capstone Colts   5       South Shore Lumberjacks   1

 

If the South Shore Lumberjacks could have played like they did in the final 10 minutes of the second period Saturday night in Bridgewater, they might have stood a chance at forcing a Game 7 Wednesday night against the defending provincial junior champions the Capstone Colts.

 

However, as has been said numerous times over the years, it takes 60 minutes of solid work most times and the Colts provided almost that as they recorded a 5-1 victory and a berth in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Championship Series against either Antigonish or Eskasoni.

 

The Colts demonstrated star power the majority of the evening as Liam Andrews, Cody Garcin, Finn Merritt, Camden McKenzie and Cooper Puma strutted their stuff.

 

Liam Andrews started the game’s scoring for the Colts on a low point shot only 55 seconds after the opening face-off.

 

Will Cole had to be sharp at times in the Colts net as he made two key saves including one off Brennan Coleman shortly after the Colts went up 1-0.  Marcus Tench and Drew Muise went in almost 2 on 1 but Tench’s shot was blocked by a Colt defender off his shinpad.  The Colts came right back with Finn Merritt taking a shot close in only to see it sail over the net.  Luke McPhee and Cody Garcin then were both in close but shot wide both times.

 

Will Cook had a great chance on Cole but then Jack Piper missed on an excellent rebound.  Connor MacPhee and Nolan Stevens had a great opportunity but Stevens ended up crashing into the South Shore net.  After this collision and scuffle, the Colts miraculously ended up with a two-man advantage with 4:04 to play in the opening frame.

 

Camden MacKenzie, Cody Garcin and Luke McPhee then put the Colts up 2-0 on the power-pay with an exceptional three-way passing play.  Following this, Brandon Rideout and Jacob Belliveau both missed in close for the Lumberjacks to keep the score at 2-0.  The Colts came right back and Luke McPhee took a bouncing rebound with 33 seconds left in the first period to go up 3-0.  Colts outshot the Lumberjacks 12-8 in the first period.

 

In the second period, the Lumberjacks never recorded a shot on goal in the opening ten minutes.  Liam Andrews hustled hard and missed in so close for the Colts.  Dylan Paplinskie of the Colts and Marcus Tench of the South Shore then collided hard at the Colts blue line that saw Tench sprawling back into Colts territory.  Cody Garcn then made a great block on a shot taken by the South Shore’s Cohen Westlake.

 

A scuffle broke-out with 10:04 to play in the second period that resulted in a game misconduct, a major and two misconducts being assessed along with two minor penalties.  The Colts played two men short for two minutes after Dylan Paplinske was assessed a match penalty and a game misconduct for head-butting. On the power-play Leo Maclean of the Lumberjacks took a wicket shot that rang off the cross-bar.   In the final ten minutes of the second, the Lumberjacks played with intense pressure and after not recording a shot in the opening ten minutes, went onto to outshoot the Colts 7-0.  MacLean did score the only goal of the second for the Lumberjacks.  The second period ended with both teams recording 8 shots and the Colts holding a 20-16 advantainutes,ge after forty minutes.

 

In the third, Luke MacPhee of the Colts rang a shot off the cross-bar before Liam Andrews then rang a shot off the goal-post only to see Finn Merritt pick up the deflection to put the Colts up 4-1.  Cody Garcin then missed two more glorious scoring opportunities before Travis Tremblay, Sam Ryan and Liam Andrews on a tremendous three-way passing play saw Tremblay put the Colts up 5-1 with 11:19 to play.