Crushers hosting Bearcats tonight in home finale
The Pictou County Crushers will play their final home game of the regular season on Thursday against the Truro Bearcats.
Having clinched the Maritime Junior Hockey League’s South Division title, the Crushers have nothing to play for in terms of the standings.
The Bearcats have sewn up second spot in the division and Pictou County will either play the Yarmouth Mariners or Amherst Ramblers in the first round of the playoffs. Yarmouth has a three-point lead over Amherst for third place in the division. The Ramblers have three games remaining while Yarmouth has two.
The Crushers’ final road game is Friday at the South Shore Lumberjacks.
After what has seemed like a grind since the beginning of January, captain Benji Curtis can’t wait to get the playoffs rolling.
“The regular season is good and everything, but the playoffs – the games mean more.”
Even with nothing at stake in the final two games, coach Doug Doull isn’t planning any significant alternations in his approach.
“The plan is to continue improving, to further define and sharpen roles and to stay goaloriented,” he said.
Crusher coaches have had their players getting back to the basics as the playoffs have gotten closer: structure, systems and good habits.
“It’s felt like a long second half (of the regular season) with postponed and rescheduled games on odd dates,” Doull said.
“We’ve stressed foundational things down the stretch – revisiting who we are and what has made us tough to play against.”
Stats say The Crushers do have some players closing in on some individual milestones: Alexis Roy(36G. 50A) and Michael Dill (32, 54A) are tied for second in the MHL scoring race. Each has 86 points, two back of Truro’s Kyle Tibbo (47G, 41), who has one fewer game to play than Dill and Roy.
Roy needs one goal to set a team record for most in a season. Roy and Dill have already broken Jordan Knox’s team record for points in a season (82 in 200708).
Goaltender Daniel Vautour has a league-best 23 wins BradKennedy, coming of a
five-goal game Saturday against the St. Stephen Aces – a franchise record – needs two goals to hit the 20 mark (he’s played just 19 games for Pictou County after spending three-plus seasons in major junior).
“He didn’t come in with a big personality. He’s fit in real well with the team,” Curtis said of the winger, older brother of defenceman Mark Kennedy.
“He’s been a big pickup for us.”
Aside from Roy and Dill, other Crushers to top the 20-goal plateau include Ethan Marsh (23), Benji Curtis (23), Dylan Riley (22) and Jacob Hickey (20). The only other MHL team with as many as three 20-goal scorers are the Dieppe Commandos. Curtis along wiht defence-man Mack Derraugh, needs a single point to reach 50 for the
season, a point-a-game pace. Derraugh has registered 42 assists, tops among all MHL blueliners.