With the win, the Capstone Colts will now travel to Antigonish for the start of their Provincial Junior Championship this weekend.
This game lived up to every hockey fan’s desire with hard skating and a strong dedicated 1000% effort from every player in both line-ups. It did not look good for the Colts mid-way through the third period after the Colts went ahead 3-2 on a goal from Finn Merritt only 4:12 into the third period as Keegan Greencorn stood literally no chance with Merritt right on his door-step to give the Colts their 3-2 lead.
The Colts were then called for two consecutive minor penalties 57 seconds apart, giving the South Shore a two-man advantage for 1:03. With only 12 seconds left in the Colts initial minor at 10:53, Joe Osborne scored to tie the game at 3-3. The Colts killed off the remaining 1:09 of the Lumberjacks power-play and kept playing aggressively and ended up with the winning goal as Jacob Troini-Willis rifled a shot past Greencorn with 7:04 remaining in regulation to give the Colts a 4-3 lead.
The Colts always seemed prepared to clear the puck away when necessary as the South Shore applied pressure as Graheme O’Brien and Brennan Coleman missed in close with 6:00 left in regulation. The Lumberjacks pulled Keegan Greencorn with 1:00 to play in regulation seeking the tying goal but following a 30 second time-out with 56 seconds left, the Lumberjacks could not score the equalizer despite doing everything but put the puck behind Brace with 31 seconds remaining. With 25 seconds to play, Nik Xidos put one into an empty South Shore net to give the Colts the 5-3 win and the series victory in seven games.
The game was played before a jammed pack Shearwater Forum. The game was only 2:21 old when Justin Hardwick-Browne was behind the Colts net and a slid the puck to the low right side of the Colts net where Joe Osborne was partially unchecked and Osborne slid the puck past Conar Brace for a 1-0 Lumberjacks lead. The Colts came right back with Greencorn making a nice pad save off of Cooper Puma. Puma was robbed blind on a second scoring attempt as the Colts were on the power-play and Puma could not get the puck off the ice and over Greencorn. Greencorn made another outstanding save on the Colts Owen’s O’Donnell as he covered up a shot to the low left side of the net. With the Lumberjacks on the power-play, Brandon missed an excellent short-handed opportunity as the Colts got sloppy for a rare time in the game. Daniel Kline also missed in close as Brace made a fantastic pad save. The Colts held a 10-8 shots advantage after the first period.
In the second period, there was a mad scramble in front of the South Shore net and Riley Henman pounced on a loose puck and pounded it past Greencorn to tie the game at 1-1. The Colts followed up with three more incredible chances with Cody Garcin collecting a second rebound only 1:27 after the Colts had tied it, with Greencorn flat on the ice to put the Colts ahead 2-1. With 4:07 remaining in the middle frame, Brace made two incredible saves but could not stop a second rebound to his low-right side as Dawson O’Connell was on his doorstep to tie the game at 2-2. Before the period concluded, Brennan Coleman was stopped by Brace on a wide-open breakaway to keep the score at 2-2. The Lumberjacks kept the pressure up and Daniel Kline was stopped in close with 1:19 left in the second. The Lumberjacks outshot the Colts 14-10 in the second and held a 22-20 advantage after two periods.
The Provincial Championship Series will now begin Friday night in Antigonish at 7:30 with Game 2 returning to Shearwater Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
GrayJay Sports
Capstone Colts 
