Bearcats, Wildcats to clash Friday
TRURO, N.S. – The Truro Bearcats look to snap a five-game losing streak Friday when they host the Valley Wildcats in Maritime Junior Hockey League action.
Puck drop at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre is 7 p.m.
The Bearcats enter the contest after losing three games last week, including a pair to the South Shore Lumberjacks and a lopsided setback to the Amherst Ramblers.
The Bearcats hold down third place in the Eastlink South Division with a 21-15-2-2 record, while the Wildcats are last in the division with a 6-28-4- 0 mark.
Last Saturday in Truro, South Shore scored two unanswered goals in the second period and another in the third to skate away with a 4-3 victory.
The Bearcats came into the game looking to avenge a 3-2 shootout loss to the Lumberjacks two nights earlier and things looked promising after they rebounded from giving up the first goal of the game to take a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Bair Gundenov beat Truro netminder Myles Hektor at 4:39 to open the scoring in the first, before the Bearcats rattled off three straight goals by Curtis Heffernan, Dylan Burton and Cole Julian to jump ahead 3-1. Markers by Nicolas Tardif and Logan O’neil tied things up in the second, however, and Gendunov’s second of the night at 1:29 of the final frame proved to be winner.
South Shore outshot Truro 41-30 in the contest.
Thursday in Bridgewater, after a scoreless opening frame, G Blackmore opened the scoring with a power-play marker in the second from Gavin Hart and Burton, making it 1- 0 for Truro midway through the frame. Brandon Stone replied for South Shore, also on the powerplay, to knot it at 1-1 after 40 minutes.
The teams exchanged goals in the third, with O’neil tallying for the Lumberjacks and Lauchie Macdonald replying for Truro at 14:03. When overtime settled nothing, Burton was the only one of the Bearcats’ first three shooters to score, but the Lumberjacks made good on their first two opportunities to take the victory.
South Shore outshot the Bearcats 38-29 in the contest.
Last Wednesday at the RECC, the Bearcats suffered their third straight shutout loss – 7- 0 to the Ramblers.the Ramblers outshot the Bearcats 37-20, including by an 18-6 margin in the second period.
Myles Hektor started between the pipes for the Bearcats and was pulled after the fourth Amherst goal in favour of Alec Macdonald. Matt Williams earned the shutout for the Ramblers.
On Sunday, Feb. 10, the Bearcats visit the division-leading Yarmouth Mariners in a7 p.m. start.