Cape Breton teams fare well at Ice Jam

BEDFORD — A pair of Cape Breton teams fell just short of making the championship games in their respective divisions at the 2018 Chronicle Herald East Coast Ice Jam that was held over the weekend in Bedford.

The Cape Breton West Islanders made it to the semifinals of the 21team elite major midget division of the tournament that featured teams from across Atlantic Canada before losing 4-1 to P.E.I.’s Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild. The Islanders were just 1-2 in the round robin portion of the tournament but knocked off the top-seeded Charlottetown Pride 7-6 in a shootout in the round of 16. They then defeated the St. John’s Maple Leafs 6-2 to advance to the final four. The Cape Breton Unionized Tradesmen, who went 2-1 in the round robin, lost 9-1 to the Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks in the round of 16. The Moncton Flyers went on to win the major midget division with a 1-0 overtime win over the Kensington Wild. Meanwhile, in the 27-team major bantam division, the North Sydneybased Joneljim Cougars reached the semifinals after a 5-2 win over the Central Attack and a 4-1 victory over the Kennebecasis Valley Kings. However, the Cougars were denied a place in the championship game after a 4-1 loss to New Brunswick’s Northwest Bulls. The Moncton Hawks defeated the Bulls 2-1 in the final.

Ryan Kidney, the 15-year-old brother of Cape Breton Screaming Eagle forward Liam Kidney, was named to the major midget division’s first all-star team.