Crushers split with ’Cats, head to Fredericton before Christmas break
WESTVILLE ROAD, N.S. — There were harsh words from the Junior A Crushers coach after his team lost 5-2 to the Valley Wildcats on Dec. 14.
The Crushers split a pair of Maritime Junior Hockey League games with the Valley Wildcats last weekend, winning 2-1 in the Valley on Dec. 13, before the Wildcats walked into the Pictou County Wellness Centre and beat the Crushers 5-2 the next night.
“We had a couple of guys that felt like they didn’t have to compete,” Mike Danton said of the Saturday loss. He added too many players aren’t able to handle it when struggling teams such as Valley challenge them.
“Valley’s a hard-working team, that’s how they compete with the other teams in the division. And they beat us handily on Saturday.”
The Wildcats built a 2-0 lead on goals from Ethan Kearney and Dylan Matthews, but Pictou County responded on goals from Dallas Farrell and Sullivan Sparkes, and the teams were tied 2-2 after 40 minutes of play.
The Wildcats, who sit at the bottom of the South Division, took over midway through the third period as Zach Falck and Sam Grant scored goals just three minutes apart, before Brent Levy put one into the empty net to seal it for the ’Cats.
CRUSHER NOTES
Dallas Farrell leads the Crushers with 31 points (17G, 14A), Sullivan Sparkes is second with 27 (5G, 22A) and Logan Vande Meerakker is next with 25 (9G, 16A).
Kevin Mason and Brayden Ryan both got into third period fights on Dec. 13 against Valley. It was Ryan’s first game back after a lengthy league-mandated suspension. He hadn’t played since Sept. 28.
The Crushers are 11-2-1 in their past 14 games and are at the Fredericton Red Wings on Dec. 19, their final game of the 2019 calendar year.
Pictou County will start 2020 with road games in Yarmouth and Amherst in the first week of January, and don’t play at home until Jan. 9 against Campbellton Tigers.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Crushers 2, Wildcats 1 (OT)
In Berwick on Dec. 13, Farrell produced in the clutch, scoring in overtime to lift Pictou County over the pesky Wildcats, his 17th goal in 19 games. Malcolm MacEachern picked up his first goal of the year for the Crushers. Riley MacInnis replied for Valley. Andrew MacLeod got the win in nets, and also drew an assist on the overtime winner. Sullivan Sparkes also assisted on the goal, his team-leading 22nd of the season.
Crushers 2, Summerside 0
On Dec. 12, in one of their most impressive wins of the year, the Crushers got 40 saves from goaltender Andrew MacLeod in blanking the leagueleading Caps, and Dallas Farrell and Jake Martin supplied the goals at the Pictou County Wellness Centre. Summerside had entered the game with a 23-3-1 record, but MacLeod stoned them to notch his third shutout of the season, tops in the league.