Mariners still atop their division
The Yarmouth Jr. A Mariners continue to sit atop the MHL’s Eastlink South Division, adding to their points total with another win last weekend – their 11th win out of 14 games.
The Mariners have 23 points in the division, ahead of the Amherst Ramblers and Truro Bearcats who each have 18 points.
The Mariners latest win came at home last Friday with a 5-2 win over the Valley Wildcats.
Yarmouth wasted little time getting onto the scoreboard with a goal by Noah McMullin (Matt Barron) one minute and 34 seconds into the game. Brent Broaders (Andrew Martell, Chris Goreham) extended the Mariners lead to 2-0 on the powerplay late in the first period.
Within the first six minutes of the second period Valley had evened the score 2-2 off the sticks of Matt Warner and Riley MacInnis. After that, the scoring was all Andrew Martell as he helped the home team pull ahead 3-2 before the second period had ended, with assists from local homeboys Matt Barron and Chris Goreham.
Martell then scored an unassisted goal 36 seconds into the third frame and rounded out his hat-trick, with help from Barron and Shawn Guison, on the powerplay at 17:10 in the third.
In net for the Mariners Tyler Caseley stopped 32 of 34 shots. In net for Valley, Liam MacDonald made 37 saves on the Mariners 42 shots.
The Mariners were once again wearing their custom pink jerseys for the game as the annual Pink in the Rink fundraiser and awareness campaign continued. The jerseys being worn by the players at home games during October are being auctioned off. As of the end of the day on Oct. 20, the bids had totaled $6,341. Bids are being accepted until Nov. 5. To bid send a text to 902-740-3791. All proceeds from Pink in the Rink are being donated to the Dr. Edwin Janke Cancer Centre at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital. Bid updates are posted on the Mariners Pink in the Rink Facebook page.
The Mariners are on the road this weekend. They play St. Stephen on Oct. 26 and Amherst on Oct. 27. Amherst had been closing in on the Mariners’ points total in the division but had two points and a win taken away from them last week by the MHL after it was determined by the league that the Ramblers had used an ineligible player in an Oct. 13 game against the Wildcats.
Meanwhile, on the weekly CJHL rankings of junior A teams in the country, the Yarmouth Mariners sat in 11th place for the week of Oct. 22. The Mariners are the only MHL team in the week’s Top 20 list.