Mariners come out of weekend still atop division

But two losses lessen lead over second-place Lumberjacks

The Yarmouth Mariners came out of last weekend still in first place in their MHL division, but with one win and two losses the Yarmouth team didn’t gain as much ground over South Shore as they had hoped for.

The Mariners sat one point over the Lumberjacks at the conclusion of Yarmouth’s three-game weekend.

At home on Friday, Jan. 12, the Mariners were edged out 4-3 by the Pictou Crushers.

There was no scoring by either team in the first period. Both teams had a pair of goals in the second, with Yarmouth’s coming off the sticks of Patrick Daley (Kyle Bergh, Chris Goreham) on the power play and Brent Boarders (Matt Barron).

Boaders ( Andrew Martell, Duncan McKie) scored again one minute and 24 seconds into the third period and the Mariners maintained the 3-2 lead until 15:23 when Pictou’s Michael Dill scored. Pictou capped the game winner at 18:02 in the third with a goal by Nicholas Jessome. The Mariners later pulled their goalie for the extra attacker but couldn’t pull off the equalizer. The Mariners, who fell 4-3 to the Pictou Crushers at home last Friday, are hoping for a better home outcome when they host Edmundston this weekend.

In net Leif Hertz stopped 35 of 39 Crushers’ shots. The Mariners had 28 shots on Pictou goalie Matt Normore who made 25 saves.

On Saturday, Jan. 13, the Mariners were in Amherst, where Matt Barron (Adam Pilotte) scored the overtime winner 57 seconds into the extra frame to give the Mariners the 3-2 win over the Ramblers.

The Mariners were trailing 1-0 after the first period when Noah McMullin (Barron) scored on the power play at 13:13 in the second to tie it. Both teams had each got- ten a goal in the third to keep the score knotted, with Yarmouth’s goal was scored by Adam Pilotte (Barron, Logan Timmons) on the power play at 7:03 with Amherst’s Jordan King also scoring on the power play at 15:43.

In net, Hertz saved 40 of 42 shots with Ramblers’ goalie Joel Goguen stopping 31 of 34 shots.

The Mariners were in Summerside on Sunday, Jan. 14, where the Capitals took the 7-5 win to sweep a stretch of three games in four days after trimming the Valley Wildcats 8-1 on Thursday and the St. Stephen Aces 6-1 on Saturday.

Overall, the Mariners outshot the Caps 44-30, including period advantages of 13-11, 18-12 and 13-7. However, the Caps received numerous timely saves from winning goaltender Dominik Tmej throughout the game.

“They have a great hockey club, no question,” said Mariners head coach Laurie Barron. “I liked parts of our game. I thought we dominated the first period, and it was unfortunate we were down 1-0.

“It was one of those nights, every time we made a mistake (they) found the back of the net. A little disappointed in our effort honestly from the centre line back…They won way more loose pucks, 50/50 pucks, and they were just hungrier than we were.”

Five different players – Patrick Daly, Matt Barron, Brent Broaders, Brendan Young and Derrick Johnson – scored for the Mariners.

The Mariners face Edmundston at home on Saturday, Jan. 20.