Fraser ignites Tignish Aces’ offence over Crunch

TIGNISH – The Tignish Perry’s Construction Aces are going into the Razzy’s P.E.I. Junior C Hockey League playoffs on a winning note.

The Aces, led by Curklan Fraser’s five goals, closed out the regular season with a 10-7 win over the Summerside Cover-All Construction Crunch on Friday. The Aces were awarded a 1-0 victory on Saturday night after the North River Flames forfeited their scheduled game in Cornwall.

The Aces, who finished the regular season in second place at 20-6-0 (won-lost-overtime losses), will have home-ice advantage against the third-place Flames (8-15-3) in one of two best-of-seven semifinal series. The Aces will host Game 1 in Tignish on Tuesday at 8:20 p.m. Game 2 is at the APM Centre in Cornwall on Saturday at 7:50 p.m.

The other playoff matchup between the first-place Sherwood-Parkdale Metros (21-3-2) and fourth-place Summerside (8-18-0) opens Monday at the Cody Banks Arena in Charlottetown. The opening faceoff is 7:20 p.m., with Game 2 at The Plex in Slemon Park on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

FIVE POINTS

At the Tignish Credit Union Arena, Dawson Sellick (2-3) also had five points for the Aces while Brayden Handrahan (2-1) and Tyson Beckingham rounded out Tignish’s scoring. Brayden Arsenault (4), Will Tuplin (3), Oliver Smallman, Brady Albert, Nick Vandervelden, Riley Avery and Ryan Campbell collected assists.

James Birt (2-1), Remi Arsenault (1-1), Connor Jones (1-1), MarcAndre Gallant, Dexter Harper and Tyler Power replied for the Crunch.

Brandon Arsenault (3), Dylan Mugridge, Kolton Stright, Carter Melnick and Kyle Kennedy assisted.

The score was tied 4-4 after the first period, and 5-5 at the end of 40 minutes.

Koby Bridges and McGuire Gallant shared the goaltending duties for Tignish.