Junior A Crushers win third straight
Monday’s 3-0 win over Valley Wildcats puts them in playoff spot
WESTVILLE ROAD — The Junior A Crushers picked up their third win in five days on Monday, a 3-0 victory over the Valley Wildcats. It was a game that saw Willie MacDonald, a former Crushers player, assistant coach, and most recently, head coach in Major Midget with the Sydney Rush, brought in behind the bench, and the team is likely to make him the coach for the rest of the season, general manager Chad McDavid said. It was also a game that saw the Crushers pestered by the Wildcats, who got some good work from goalie Aaron Brunn as the Crushers spent much of the afternoon buzzing around the Valley end of the rink. Jaden Mason opened the scoring in the first period, jamming away at the puck in the Valley crease and finally getting it past Brunn. The goal stood until early in the third period when Dallas Farrell’s snapshot glanced in off the bar, and Kevin Mason clinched in the final minute, getting a good look at the net and whipping it home, top-shelf. The win streak came after a stretch that saw the Crushers lose 10 times in 12 games, costing former coach Mike Danton his job. Danton was fired on Feb. 13. “Things hadn’t been really going our way,” captain Jake Martin said of the losing streak. “We weren’t getting beat bad, we were right there but it just wasn’t enough. To be able to turn things around, there’s a lot more energy coming to the rink and the boys are having fun again. It was hard to stay positive when you kept coming to the rink and kept losing.” Of course, this being the Crushers, even a win comes with adversity. Goaltender Andrew MacLeod got into a fight with the Valley netminder, the second fight during the same stoppage, and was suspended by the league for six games. Dallas Farrell also got a third-man in penalty, so both are facing suspension at a rather inconvenient time of the season for Pictou County. The fans at the PCWC loved the MacLeod fight, the coaching staff probably didn’t because they will be missing their starting goalie and leading scorer for the next little while. “We’ve got to go into very game knowing it’s do-or-die,” Farrell said. “It doesn’t matter what team we’re playing, it’s about getting the job done, every guy in the room needs to buy in and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
NOTES
The Crushers are tied ▪ for fourth place in the South Division with the South Shore Lumberjacks, and have a game in hand on South Shore. Pictou County is a single point behind both the Truro Bearcats and Amherst Ramblers. One of those four teams will not make the MHL playoffs. Kevin Mason has four ▪ goals in the past four games. Farrell’s goal on Monday ▪ was his 20th in 32 games as a Crusher. The Crushers were in ▪ Truro Feb. 19 and play the next night at South Shore.
Crushers 4, Yarmouth Mariners 3
On Feb. 15 in Yarmouth, the Crushers built a 4-0 lead on two goals from Kevin Mason and one each from Andrew Burden and Sam LeBlanc. The Mariners came back with three straight goals, but the Crushers held on against the first-place Mariners.
Crushers 5, Grand Falls 4
Against the Rapids on Feb. 13 at the Pictou County Wellness Centre, the Crushers held a 4-1 lead in the third period, gave up three unanswered goals to the Rapids before Craig Ryan got the winner, his second of the night. Evan Gallant, Logan Vande Meerakker and Farrell also scored, while Farrell, Vande Meerakker and Burden all had two assists.