Eskasoni now 4-0-0.......Windsor opens with a sell-out

Eskasoni now 4-0-0…….Oxen play before sell-out in home opener


Something is brewing this fall in Eskasoni besides the tea kettle and coffee pots as the Jr. Eagles have stormed out of the gate to win all four of their regular season starts to date in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League.

Their latest win came on the road in Antigonish Friday evening as they blanked the defending Maritime Champions the Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs 3-0.  The teams played a scoreless draw in the opening frame before Dillon Arsenault made it 1-0 Eskasoni after forty minutes.  In the third, Marcellus Francis tallied 25 seconds into the final frame to give the Jr. Eagles a 2-0 led before Zander Bilard tallied am empty net goal with 1:55 to play and the 3-0 win.

Eskasoni net minder Darian MacInnis stopped all 18 shots he faced while Ethan Chishol turned away 31 of 33 shots in the Bulldogs net.  Eskasoni will be looking for their fifth consecutive win when they host the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates Sunday evening at home beginning at 7:30 p.m. while Antigonish carries their 1-1-0 start to play the Jr. Miners in Membertou as the Jr. Miners at 0-3-0 will be looking for their first win of the season.  Game time is 7:30 p.m.


Windsor   4        Brookfield   0


The hockey feeling around Windsor was astounding Friday evening with a sell-out, every parking spot in the John Paris Jr. Rink was full, forcing folks to drive out into the field to find additional parking space.  The line-up for tickets stretched from the arena table out to the middle of the 2nd line of cars in the rink’s actual parking lot. This kind of scenario had not been witnessed in Windsor since the days of the Valley Maple Leafs winning provincial championships 9 and ten years ago.

As for Friday night’s contest between the newly revamped Windsor Oxen and the Brookfield Elks, both teams tenaciously forechecked, resulting in break-out plays being hard to come by for both teams.  That’s not to say there was not some excellent goaltending as the Elks Cole Echlin turned away 44 of 48 shots he faced while Graydon Mole earned the shut-out for the Oxen stopping all 34 shots he encountered for the now 1-0-2 Oxen.

Cody Hebb of the Oxen put his team up 1-0 less than seven minutes into the opening period as he bounced on a puck directly in front of Echlin and beat him to the far right side.  It stayed 1-0 until there were 6:30 left in regulation when the Oxen broke through for thee goals i  a span of 3:29.  Wilson Davison who played a strong game both offensively and defensively for the Oxen scored tleft alloneo make it 2-0 and 1:15 later it was 3-0 Oxen as Daeshawn Fletcher tallied.  The Oxen were not finished as William Hartnell was left alone in the left face-off circle and he rifled a shot past Echlin to make 4-0.  The Elks dropped to 2-2-0 and were coming off a huge win over the Sackville Blazers Monday evening.  A period by period breakdown of the shots saw the Elks outshoot the Oxen 16-15 in the opening period before the Oxen came back and outshot the Elks 14-10 and 19-8 in the second and third periods.

The Oxen return to action Friday Oct 4 in Windsor at 7:30 versus the Sackille Blazers while the Elks stay on the road with a trip to Bridgewater tonight at 7:00 for a  game with the 3-0-0 South Shore Lumberjacks.


Port Hawkesbury   8      Pictou   4

Even with a new bench boss calling the shots behind the Scotians bench,  Pictou County was unable to shake their lethargic play to open the 25-26 season as they fell flat in the third period allowing the Port Hawksbury Strait Pirates 5 unanswered goals to fall to 0-4-0.  The Strait Pirates meanwhile improved to 2-2-0.  The Strait Pirates led 1-0 after twenty minutes on a goal from Josh MacDonald.  The second period saw Pictou take a 4-3 lead.  Landon MacIntosh put the Strait up 2-0 before Nate Supryka scored on the power-play to make the score 2-1.  Liam Trenholm added another power-play goal and it was 3-1 Stait but then Thunder struck and the Scotians came back with three consecutive goals from John Kay Martin and a pair of power-play goals from Lane Lochead as the Scotians took a 4-3 lead.  If there was Thunder in the second period by the Scotians, then streaks of sharp lightening hit th third period as the Strait Pirates scored five unanswered goals to win the game 8-4.  Landon MacIntosh scored his second of the game for the Strait, Cadyn Power scored pair with single goals going to Henry Dougan and Craig Saulnier,  MacIntosh and Power also each collected a pair of assists for the winners.  Chris Jordan collected 3 assists for the Scotians. The Strait outshot the Scotians 39-34.


East Hants 6      Sackville    3

East Hants improved to 3-1-0 with their doubling up of the Sackville Blazers.  Chris Caissie and Aiden Nicholson made it 2-0 Pens after one period.  28 seconds into the middle period, Logan Mitchell brought the Blazers back to within a goal but before the period ended Nix Xidos and Nick Morin scored for the Penguins to gove them a 4-1 lead.  Dylan Probert scored for Sackville to make the score  4-2 Penguins after forty minutes.  Tristen LeBlanc’s goal brough the Blazers back to within one in the third period but that was all Sackville could do asBraedy Kirkton and Finley Diab scored for East Hants and give them a 6-3 win.  East Hants outshot the Blazers 42-37 and are now 3-1-0 on the season.  The Blazers dropped to 1-2-0.