Mariners lock up Eastlink South Division
Guarantees Mariners home-ice advantage in first two rounds of playoffs
When the Mariners scored on Summerside’s empty net with eight seconds left in their game last Saturday, the crowd erupted.
However fending off a six-man attack in the final minute of what was a 2-1 game, and to then capture the 3-1 victory, wasn’t just exciting – for the Mariners it was significant for another reason.
With the win, the Mariners, who have 71 points, locked up first place in the Eastlink South Division. By doing so, it guarantees the Mariners home-ice advantage for the first two rounds of playoffs. The first round will see the Mariners play the fourth-place team in the division, which was the Truro Bearcats on the weekend who had 54 points.
There was no scoring during the first period of the March 3 game. Ben Chipman (Logan Timmons, Aaron Maillet) opened up the scoring at 8:20 in the second period. Summerside’s Brodie MacMillan evened up the score at 11:47 but it didn’t stay knotted for long with Andrew Martell (Adam Pilotte) putting the Mariners up 2-1 at 13:21 into the second period.
In what was a low-penalty affair – 10 minutes for the Mariners and six minutes for Summerside – the Capitals went on the attack with the extra man at the end of the game but the Mariners scored with 8 seconds remaining.
In net for the Mariners, Leif Hertz stopped 29 of 30 shots. The Mariners had 42 shots on Summerside’s Alex Bishop.
On Sunday the Mariners were in the Valley to play the Wildcats and won that game 2-1. Scoring in the first period was Logan Timmons (Connor Peveril, Lauchie MacDonald). There was no scoring in the second period and nearly no scoring in the third.
The Wildcats pulled their goalie at the end of the game. Timmons (Matt Smith, Noah McMullin) scored on the empty net at 18:58. Valley scored with 12 seconds left in the game.
The MHL wraps up its regular league season games this week.
The Mariners are home on Friday, March 9 versus the South Shore Lumberjacks and are on the road Saturday, March 10 versus the Truro Bearcats. The Yarmouth Mariners locked up the Eastlink South Division with a win over the Summerside Capitals on March 3.