Boys league game recaps from the Nov. 19-21 weekend. The game recaps are supplied by the home team and posted when they are received, coupled with the availability of the webmaster. 

Friday, Nov. 19

Avon View 5 – NKEC 1

On Friday evening in Canning the NKEC Titans were hosting the undefeated Avon View Avalanche. This game was also a Pink in the Rink game. Proceeds of the game will be going directly to families who are being impacted by cancer.

Going into the game Vegas had the Titans as heavy underdogs and as soon as the puck was dropped the visiting team showed everyone why they are the team to beat.  The Avalanche were able to set the tone and control much of the play throughout the game, but the Titans were doing their best to keep things close and to give it all they had. 

Avon View struck first with a goal by Gavin Sheehy, but the home side was able to tie things up 45 seconds later with Daeshawn Fletcher's first goal of the season.  The Avalanche were able to capitalize on their strong forecheck 5 minutes later by getting a goal from Cody Richards.  The first period ended with the visiting side leading by one.

Going into the second period the Titans felt like they were still in the game and with a little hard work and a good bounce you never know what could happen.  The Avalanche wanted none of this and quickly scored two goals by Eric Giswold and Brayden Jodrey to take a commanding 4 - 1 lead. 

Heading into the third the Titans had a goal of winning the third period and to hopefully become a better team because of this experience.  Things looked good until Carter Hood netted his first of the game to make the final score 5 - 1 for the Avalanche.  The Titans played hard and the coaching staff were really proud of their efforts, but the better team won the matchup.  Thank you to all of the fans and supporters who came out to cheer on the two teams and help support a worthy cause.

Horton 10 – Clare 3

The Horton Griffins made their way to Church Point on Friday to take on the Clare Loups. Horton opened up a 5-0 lead after 20 minutes of play with goals coming from Lachlin Levy with a hat trick and 2 goals from Aidan MacEwan.

The second period saw Horton outscore Clare 4-3 as the Griffins took a 9-3 lead after 40 minutes. Scoring for the Griffins were Avery Buckle, Mac Harnum, Brady Clarke & Ryan Quigley. Replying for Clare were Nicholas Gaudet, Nema Hanna & Logan Comeau.

Horton scored the only goal in the 3rd period as Lachlin Levy added his 4th goal of the game.

Ryan Young got the win in nets for Horton while Mathieu LeBlanc (6GA) and Cohen Neil (4 GA) shared the net in the loss for Clare.

Scorers for Horton: Lachlin Levy 4G & 1A,  Cayden Anderson 3A, Aidan MacEwan 2G & 1A, Ryan Quigley 1G & 2A, Brady Clarke 1G & 1A, Hugo Sorbetti 2A, Avery Buckle 1G, Mac Harnum 1G, Brett King 1A, Jesse Bidgood 1A, CJ Zinck 1A, Angus MacLeod 1A & Colin Tracey 1A.

Scorers for Clare: Logan Comeau 1G & 1A, Nicholas Gaudet 1G, Nema Hanna 1G, Zack Comeau 1A, Michel Comeau 1A, Chad Reddick 1A.

Saturday, Nov. 20

Central Kings 8 – NKEC 3

The first period showed very strong play from all NKEC lines carrying the bulk of the play.  NKEC struck first at 15:52 of the first with a shot from the point by Ethan Escott redirected in front of the CK net by Will Harris (Harris, from Escott, Durling).  NKEC continued to dominate the period with passes out of their zone, transitioning to offense quickly.  NKEC outshot CK 18-4, Locke Albrecht had a very strong period to keep the score within one, end of period one, NKEC 1 – CK 0.

NKEC’s Adam Harris opened the scoring in the second period at 18:56 on a breakaway with a nice finish in the top corner (Harris, from Escott).  CK scored at the 12:02 mark of the second with a nice passing play from Cody Hebb to Sam Rogers with Connor Hanninen tapping in a shot in the crease making it 2-1.  CK evened up the score at 9:53 of the second, with a pass from Rogers near the blueline to Hebb, pulling the puck to backhand to finish to make it 2-2.  CK took the lead 3-2 at the 6:15 mark of the second with Ethan Wood tapping in a puck in the crease (Wood, from Rogers, Turner).  Sam Rogers rounded out in the second period on a breakaway (from Logie).  End of the second, Shots CK 22, NKEC 27, Score CK 4 ­ – NKEC 2.

CK’s Ryan Turner opened the scoring in the third period @17:49 (unassisted).  NKEC scored their third with a very strong forecheck by all three forwards, with Mac Sinclair scoring (from Brown, Angerman).  CK scoring was rounded out for @5:27 Ryan Turner (from Rogers), Cody Hebb @3:21 (Hebb, Hanninen, and Rogers), and Nathan Langille (Langille, from Schurman, and Meister).

Game Summary, CK shots 34, NKEC shots 35.

Final Score CK 8 – NKEC 3

Horton 8 – Digby 1

On Saturday night, Digby travelled to Kentville to take on the Horton Griffins. Digby had a short bench with only 12 skaters but worked hard for the entire game. 

The Griffins started the scoring 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the game with a goal by Hugo Sorbetti. Digby then responded 7 minutes later to tie the game. 

After this, Horton scored 7 unanswered goals during the game with the scoring led by Mac Harnum and Colin Tracey who both had their first hat-tricks for the Griffins. 

It should be noted that Digby had several good chances that Mason Veinotte had to come up with big saves and Digby fought hard right to the end of the game. 

The game was a very clean game with only 6 penalties in total. 

Points:

Digby:

Goal scored by # 16 Brett Hall assisted by Kaiden Longmire and Cory Stark. 

Horton:

Hugo Sorbetti - 1 goal and an assist 

Colin Tracey - 3 goals

Mac Harnum - 3 goals 

CJ Zink - 2 assists

Brady Clarke - 3 assists 

Jesse Bidgood - 1 goal and 1 assist

Aidan MacEwan - 2 assists

Brett King - 1 assist 

Glen Murray tournament:

Several league teams took part in the Glen Murray Tournament hosted by Park View over the weekend. After defeating the Par-en-Bas Sharks in overtime in one of the semi-final games, the host Panthers were edged out by Citadel High in the championship game by a score of 4-3.

Boys league game recaps from the Nov. 5-7 weekend. The game recaps are supplied by the home team and posted when they are received, coupled with the availability of the webmaster. 

Friday, Nov. 12

NKEC 6 – Forest Heights 1

On Friday night in Canning the NKEC Titans hosted the Forest Heights Falcons. As it is early in the season, both teams were not sure what to expect and the first ten minutes of the game resembled this belief. The game started a little sloppy with both teams exchanging scoring opportunities and giving the puck away numerous times. 

As the period settled in, both teams did as well as a little more structure seeped into the game.  The Forest Heights goalie played extremely well throughout the game, but he made some remarkable saves during the first period to keep the score at zero's at the end of the period. 

The Titans struck quickly, scoring 30 seconds into the second period, with by a goal by Adam Harris.  The Titans kept the pressure going scoring two more goals in less than five minutes by both Harris and Harrison Seaman.  At this point the game seemed to be going the Titans way, but a few big saves by the Forest Heights netminder and some penalty trouble by the home side allowed the visiting Falcons to get back in the game.  The period ended with the score 3 - 1 as Forest Heights scored a late one by Dylan Rafuse and entered the third period with all of the momentum.

At the start of the third period the Titans knew that only one thing could take the momentum back into their favour and that would be a quick goal and that is exactly what the 'Red' line did.   Scoring 15 seconds into the third period, Adam Harris scored his hat trick and made the score

4-1 Titans.  A minute later the Titans scored another goal, by Ryan Brown to take a 4-goal lead.  The Falcons kept their composure throughout the game and battled hard and at times were unlucky to capitalize to put a few more goals on the board.  With ten minutes left in the game the Titans scored their last of the evening by Peter MacDougall placing the final score 6 - 1 for the home team.   

The Titans would like to thank the Falcons for travelling to Canning and as well thank all of the spectators who cheered on both teams throughout the game.

Park View 4 – Yarmouth 0

In a Friday night tilt in front of a large home crowd, the Park View Panthers faced off against the Yarmouth Vikings. The Panthers came out of the gate strong creating scoring chances and getting lots of pucks through to the net. However, some stellar play by Yarmouth goaltender Braden Hipson kept the Panthers at bay until the 16:49 mark of the first when Landen Morash dented the twine, assists going to Dylan Demone and Jack Barry.

The Vikings pushed back on the powerplay, however Panthers Goalie Owen Lockwood was equal to the task keeping them off the board. 

Early in the second on the PP Fischer Genge scored on a nice feed from Dylan Demone and Nathan Lambourne to put the Panthers up 2-0. Later in the frame, Jonas Talbot picked up a pass from Landen Morash, walked the line firing a nice wrist shot which found the back of the net. The Panthers started the 3rd short-handed, however a strong PK kept the Vikings off the board. Fischer Genge picked up his second of the game at the 15:33 mark which ended the scoring for the night.

Owen Lockwood shut the door from there picking up his second shutout of the season securing the 4-0 win for the Panthers.

Par-en-Bas 9 – Clare 1

The Par en Bas Sharks visited their Acadian rivals on Friday evening in Church Point facing off against Clare Loups. The Sharks took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play off two power play goals from Spencer Surette who had a big night for PEB.

The second period saw the Sharks add 5 more goals to their lead as Riley Hubbard, Spencer Surette with 2 more goals, Chandler LeBlanc and Alyre Richardson hit the twine for PEB.

PEB added 2 more in the last frame as Spencer Surette added his 5th goal of the game as well as Carson d'Eon with a single to close out the scoring for the Sharks. Zack Comeau scored a PP marker as the lone goal scorer for Clare.

Rylan LeBlanc got the win in nets for PEB while Mathieu LeBlanc took the loss for Clare.

Scorers for PEB Sharks: Spencer Surette 5G, Seamus d'Entremont 3A, Ben Lyons 3A, Alyre Richardson 1G & 1A,  Riley Hubbard 1G, Chandler LeBlanc 1G, Carson d'Eon 1G, Rylan LeBlanc 1A, Nolan Cottreau 1A.

Scorers for Clare Loups: Zack Comeau 1G, Alex Theriault 1A.

Saturday, Nov. 13

Central Kings 6 – Par-en-Bas 1

On Saturday night the Central Kings Gator’s traveled to the Mariners Centre to face off against the École Secondaire de Par-en-Bas Sharks.

Par-en-Bas was looking to end the Gators four-year reign over the valley league.

CK came out strong in the first and the young Shark team was down 3-0 in 10 minutes of play. The Gators first line, lead by #19 Sam Rogers, was too much for the Sharks to contain. Rogers, already with a goal and an assist added another goal and assist in the 2nd.

Ahead 5-0 in the 3rd the Gators kept pressing, starved for more. Blake Newell scored for Par-en-Bas but then Rogers completed his hat trick in the 3rd. The Gators aggressive but clean forecheck was too much for the young Shark team to handle.

Final score was Gators 6 – Sharks 1

CK- Sam Rogers (3),  Connor Hanninen, Matt Churchill, Cody Hebb

PEB- Blake Newell

Sunday, Nov. 14

Yarmouth 3 – NKEC 2

YCMHS and NKEC played a tight game on Sunday afternoon in Yarmouth.

In 1st period action Yarmouth scored on a power play with 1:53 remaining in the 1st period. Scoring for Yarmouth was Landon Watkins-Bonnar. Yarmouth then scored again on the power play 30 seconds later to make it 2-0. Scoring was Ben LeBlanc.

In the second period NKEC scored 4 minutes into the period. Scoring was Ryan Brown. The game continued to be tight action for the remainder of the 2nd period.

In the 3rd period Yarmouth scored another power play goal to make it 3-1. Scoring was Gannon Duffy. NKEC made it a 3-2 game by scoring on the power play with 5 min remaining. Scoring was Nik Kaizer.

NKEC pulled its goalie with a few minutes remaining but could not capitalize on the man advantage. Yarmouth held on for the 3-2 win.

Boys league game recaps from the Nov. 5-7 weekend. The game recaps are supplied by the home team and posted when they are received, coupled with the availability of the webmaster. 

Friday, Nov. 5

Park View 3 – West Kings 2

On Friday night West Kings hosted Park View for their first meeting this year. Both teams came out strong and had several chances, but the only team able to connect was WK scoring 5 minutes into the first and that’s how the period ended.

In the second PVEC were able to jump out quickly and scored 30 seconds into the period and it remained that way until they were able to score a short-handed goal halfway through the period to go up 2-1. Park View kept that lead until the end of the period.

PVEC got into a little penalty trouble early in the third and WK was able to tie it up 8 minutes in. After that, both teams had scoring chances but it was PVEC that was able to capitalize scoring with just over 3 minutes left. No matter how hard they tried WK was unable to tie it back up and the game ended with a PVEC 3-2 victory.

Scoring for PVEC were Ryan Jensen, Nathan Culbert and Ethan Corkum with the winner.

For WK it was Nathan Sheppard and Antoine Tringle.

NKEC 6 - Par-en-Bas 2

On Friday evening a well-coached and hard-working Par-en-Bas Sharks team visited the ice palace in Canning to play the NKEC Titans.  The Titans were looking for a little redemption after the loss to PEB the week before in the West Kings Tournament.  PEB arrived in Canning missing a few players on the backend due to prior commitments, but the TItans knew that things would not be easy.

The message to the Titans was to be committed and to match the work ethic and competitiveness that the Sharks will bring, and that is exactly what they did. 

The Titans started off strong and were matching the intensity of the Sharks.  The Titans scored first with Ryan Brown's first goal of the year, helping NKEC take the early lead.  With less than two minutes to play in the first period Mac Sinclair scored a short handed goal making the score 2 - 0 after the first period. 

The Titans were the better team in the first period, but they knew that the second period wouldn't be easy.  The Sharks regrouped for the second and controlled much of the play during the first ten minutes.  Their strong forecheck and tenacity was a little too much for the Titans to handle and the Sharks were able to tie the game up in the first 10 minutes by goals from Carson Deon and a beauty by Spencer Surette.   It looked like the Sharks had command of the game until the Titans were able to score a couple of quick goals in the last few minutes of the period by Adam Harris and Harrison Seaman.  The score was 4-2 for the TItans heading into the 3rd. 

The TItans were able to capitalize very quickly in the third period with another two goals to take a 6-2 lead.  The goals were scored by Peter MacDougall and Elliot Pashley.  The overall game was closer than the score reflects and these two teams will have a few more battles throughout the year.   Thanks to PEB for travelling to Canning and as well thank you to everyone who came out to support the teams.

Forest Heights Falcons 6 - Horton Griffins 3

The Chester arena welcomed a huge crowd for this legendary match-up. The Falcons were successful on their first power play of the game but could not contain the strong Griffins who lead the scoring in the first 2:1.

The second period found the Falcons short-handed on multiple occasions and eventually down by one more. The Griffins played a disciplined game only logging 3 penalties the entire match and seemed to have control of the game.

The Falcons started the 3rd period with a power play goal as Cole Hayes scored 41 seconds into the period. This marked the first goal for this 9-year veteran goalie who converted to a centre for his graduating year. After that it was all Falcons with another 4 unanswered goals to finish with a 6-3 victory over the visiting Griffins.

Saturday, Nov. 6

Par-en-Bas 7 – Digby 1

On Saturday night the Digby Mariners traveled to the Mariners Centre to play the École Secondaire de Par-en-Bas Sharks in their home opener. In front of a large Shark crowd, the Mariners struck first scoring 5 minutes into the game on a 2 on 1 play. The goal by Daniel Jamieson seemed to spark the Sharks as they scored 2 of their own.

The second period saw 3 different goals by the Sharks, one short-handed, one powerplay and one even strength. The third period saw two more goals by the Sharks to lead their rookie grade 8 goaltender to his first high school hockey win.

Scoring for the Mariners: Daniel Jamieson

Scoring for the Sharks: Blake Newell (3), Caleb d’Entremont (2), Chandler LeBlanc (1) and Dominic Jacquard  (1).

Park View 3 – Horton 2 (SO)

On Saturday night the Horton Griffins hosted the Park View Panthers in what is always a hotly contested match. Horton was in penalty trouble in the first period and Park View would capitalize early. # 5 Chase Crouse would take a shot from the point and it bounced off a defender's foot and ended up in the back of the net. The goal was assisted by # 12 Liam Sylvester. The Griffins continued to battle hard and kill off penalties.

Horton came out firing early in the second period and CJ Zink took a rebound in front of the net, made a nice move in close and put the puck past the Panthers netminder. Assists going to Aidan McEwan and Max Ouellette. The play would go back and forth for the second period and at the end of the period, with 8 seconds left, there was a battle in front of the net and Cohen Sawler was able to put the puck past Owen Lockwood to give Horton the lead going into the third. The goal was assisted by Mac Harnum.

In the third period, the play would go back and forth but Park View was starting to find their legs and scored a goal with 7 minutes left to go in the third period. The game remained tied at the end of the period and went into 3 on 3 OT. Both goalies made some great saves in overtime but one that stands out is a cross-crease one-timer save by Owen Lockwood.

In the shootout, Park View's first shooter would be successful with a perfectly placed shot off the post to score against the always difficult-to-beat Mason Veinotte. The goal scorer was # 3 Jack Barry. Mason Veinotte would make a fantastic glove save on the next shooter and the last shooter for Park View but Owen Lockhood was equal to the task. He made an amazing pad save on Brady Clarke and then an even better desperate paddle save on  CJ Zink to secure the win for Park View.

Avon View 8 - West Kings 0

The Avon View Avalanche continued their solid play in only their second regular season game of the 2021-2022 Valley High School Hockey League as they got the W with a win over the West Kings Wolverines 8-0 before a large crowd of approximately 300 + at the West Hants Sportsplex Saturday evening, Nov 6. The Avalanche are now 2-0 and with their Birthplace of Hockey Tournament coming up Remembrance Day Weekend will not be back in action in League Play until Friday, Nov 19, when they travel to Canning to play the 3-1-0 Northeast Kings Titans.

In Saturday’s game, Camdyn Burgess opened the scoring for the Avalanche with some dynamite stickhandling between two West Kings defenders only 25 seconds into the game and easily put it into the back of the Wolverines net.  It was very quickly 2-0 when Terran Bailie scored the first of his two on the night on a bang-bang play in front of the net.  Brayden Hood made it 3-0 on a slap shot from the point.  The Avalanche outshot West Kings 17-1 in the opening period.

They were unable to come up with any goals, but West Kings came out somewhat refreshed in the second period and slowed the Avalanche down with more stoppages in play and were outshooting the home team 6-2 at one stage.  Despite this, it did not stop the barrage of scoring for the Avalanche as Carter Hood lofted a soft wrist shot from the blue line to put his team up 4-0.

The Avalanches Zack McPhee made it 5-0 as the puck went off his skate and slid across the crease.

Brody Richard then made it 6-0 on a beautiful two-way passing play.

Brayden Hood then made it 7-0 before Terran Bailie scored the Avalanche’s final goal and his second of the night on a backhander his to the right side of the West Kings Goalie.  The 1-3-0 Wolverines swing back into action Friday Nov 12 at home against the 2-2-0 Barrington High Barons.

Yarmouth 8 – Middleton 4

Nov. 6 was the home opener in Middleton. The game started out hard and fast but was soon slowed down by 100 penalty minutes in total: 53 min for Middleton and 47 min for Yarmouth. Four player ejections were enforced as well: 2 for each team.

In between stoppages, scorers from Middleton were Aidan Gallant (assisted by Owen Wagstaff & Hayden denHaan), Morgan Noble unassisted, Mike Hoogerwerf (Morgan Noble assist), Madex denHaan (Aidan Gallant assist).

Scorers from Yarmouth were Ryder Travis (3), Landon Watkins-Bonnar (2), Ben LeBlanc (2), Cameron Brown.

The score rocked back and forth as the game slowly unfolded with the score being 6-4 for Yarmouth with just 3 minutes left in the third but Yarmouth put 2 quick pucks in to end Middleton’s hope, resulting in an 8-4 victory for Yarmouth.

NKEC 12 – Clare 3

The Northeast Kings Titans travelled to Church Point to face Clare Loups for a Saturday evening affair, and scored early and often especially in the 1st period taking a 6-1 lead.  Adam Harris netted a natural hat trick scoring 3 goals in the opening frame for NKEC, as well as 2 goals from Ethan Scott and a single from Mac Sinclair. Replying for les Loups was Nichoals Gaudet.

In the second period the Titans added 4 more goals to their tally with markers from Kitch Brawn, Elliot Pashley, Ethan Scott with his 3rd goal of the night and Will Harris. NKEC took a 10-1 lead after 2 periods of play.

Titans Captain Harrison Seaman and Ethan Scott with his fourth goal of the game added to NKEC's offense in the 3rd period while Nema Hanna & Gaetan Deveau replied for Clare as the Titans won by a final score of 12-3.

Ryan Ogden-Potter got the win in nets for the Titans while Mathieu LeBlanc (& GA) and Cohen Neil (5 GA) shared the duties in the defeat for Clare.

Scorers for the Titans: Ethan Scott 4G, Adam Harris 3G & 1A, Evan Durling 3A, Will Harris 1G &1A, Kitch Brawn 1G & 1A, Elliot Pashley 1G & 1A, Harrison Seaman 1G & 1A, Benson Keddy 2A, Mac Sinclair 1G, Peter MacDougall 1A & Jonny Petrie 1A.

Scorers for Clare: Nicholas Gaudet 1G, Nema Hanna 1G, Gaetan Deveau 1G,  Noah MacLean 1A, Chase Comeau 1A & Ryan Trimper 1A.

Sunday, Nov. 7

Central Kings 10 - Forest Heights 5

The Central Kings Gators and Forest Heights Falcons met up on the ice for a high-scoring game.

First period scoring opened up @15:45 with the Falcons working the puck from the corner out to the point, with a shot from MacKenzie Connors (Connors, from Rafuse, Corkin) to put the Falcons up 1-0.  Central Kings drew even six seconds into a powerplay with Cody Hebb chipping in a puck at the side of the net (Hebb, from Turner, Rogers).  CK’s Connor White then chipped the puck out of the CK end and jumped into a rush with Sam Rogers, with Rogers slipping a pass over to White who buried the shot into the back of the net (White, from Rogers). With Central Kings back on the powerplay, they won the draw in the Falcons end back to the point. Churchill slipped a pass over to Rogers on the point and his shot was redirected into the net by Cody Hebb, (Hebb, from Churchill, Rogers), putting CK up 3-1.  Central Kings entered the Falcons zone with some nice work behind the net by Nathan Langille and worked the puck out front with Rogers finishing the play into the back of the net (Rogers, from Wood, Langille).  Late in the first period, CK won a face off deep in the Falcons end, where Matt Churchill shot from the point and Cody Hebb tapped in his third goal of the period (Hebb, from Rogers, Churchill) making it 5-1 at the end of one. 

Shots at the end of the first period, Gators 13, Falcons 11

The Falcons started the scoring in the second period @15:25 with an odd man rush down the ice with Cohen Perry tapping in a rebound off a shot from Madden Myra (Perry, from Myra).  The Falcons continued to push back in the second period with a powerplay goal @13:01 with a shot from Connors from the point, with Dylan Rafuse chipping in the rebound (Rafuse, from Connors, Hayes) making the score 5-3.  One minute later, Dylan Rafuse picked up a loose puck in the Falcons end, steps over the CK blueline and finishes top corner on Central Kings making it a very close game at 5-4.  Deep in the Falcons’ end, Rogers then won a draw and passed to Hanninen who finished into the back of the net (Hanninen, from Rogers).  Matt Churchill, with nice work along the blueline to keep the puck in, chipped a shot to the net, a shot by Rogers is saved by the Falcons, and Ryan Turner then finished into the back of the net (Turner, from Rogers, Churchill). 

Shots on goal after two periods, Central Kings 26, Forest Heights 18.

The 9:08 mark of the third period, after a puck battle just inside the CK blueline, saw Dylan Rafuse pick up a loose puck and find the back of the net for the Falcons (Rafuse, from Hill) making it 7-5 Central Kings.  Sam Rogers picked up a loose puck inside the CK blueline and split the Falcons defense finishing the play with a backhand upstairs to put CK up by three and make the score 8-5 CK.  Next at 7:21 of the third, CK’s Chase Balsor scored his first goal as a Gator redirecting a shot from the point, (Balsor, from Basquill, Langille).  Scoring in the game was rounded out by Connor Hanninen with his second of the night with a pass from behind the net from Rogers, (Hanninen, from Rogers, Hebb).

Final shot count, Central Kings 39, Forest Heights 23.

Final score: Central Kings 10 – Forest Heights 5

Other weekend game scores:

Barrington 5 – Middleton 2

Central Kings 3 – Yarmouth 2

Digby 7 – Clare 3

Boys league game recaps from the Oct. 29-31 weekend. The game recaps are supplied by the home team and posted when they are received, coupled with the availability of the webmaster. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 29

Central Kings 5 – Park View 1

This was the first game of the season between the Park View Panthers and the Central Kings Gators. Park View's starting goalie was Owen Lockwood and Central Kings' starting goalie was Brennan Knox.

At the 15:49 mark of the first period, Nathan Langille chipped the puck out of the zone to Connor White, who took a big hit to chip the puck ahead to Sam Rogers. Rogers broke down the right wing, slipped a pass from the goal-line back to a trailing Ethan (Woody) Wood to score his first of the season, making it 1-0 Central Kings (Wood, from Rogers, White).

Late in the first period at 0:24, Jonas Talbot showed some great speed through the neutral zone, breaking down the right wing and getting a shot on net. A loose puck in the blue paint was picked up by Landon Morash, who chipped it in to tie the game up at 1-1 (Morash, from Talbot).

Central Kings had 12 shots on goal, while Park View had 10 shots on goal.

Starting the second period, at 18:35, Sam Rogers carried the puck over the blueline, split the defense, and slipped a pass through the blue paint to #16 Matt Churchill.  Churchill shot for the mesh and scored. Central Kings went ahead 2-1 with Churchill’s first ever goal as a Gator (Churchill, from Rogers).

At 9:48 of the second period, on the powerplay, Aidan Meister won a draw cleanly back to Sam Rogers who snapped a shot on goal deflected by Cody Hebb, making it 3-1 Gators.  This was Cody’s first goal as a Gator. (Hebb, from Rogers, Meister). 

Play for the next 8 to 10 minutes went back and forth between Park View and Central Kings.  Late in the period, Matt Churchill picked up the puck in the CK end and chipped a pass into the Park View end for Sam Rogers.  Rogers made an evasive move to elude the Panthers’ defence and shot it into the Park View net, making it a 4-1 game (Rogers, from Churchill). At the end of the second period, shots were 27 for the Central Kings and 17 for Park View.

Park View came out with strong play in the third period, carrying the bulk of the play over the first 15 minutes.  Late in the third, at 4:23 on the power play, Rogers on the point chipped a pass to Aidan Meister on the half-wall.  Meister moves to the slot and shot with Watty Walker, redirecting the shot into the back of the net to make it a 5-1 final for the Gators.

Final shots were Central Kings: 34, Park View 23.

Forest Heights Falcons 8 - Digby Mariners 5

Forest Heights Community School held its Pink in the Rink to honour those who have been impacted by breast cancer. Process from admission from the game were donated to cancer research. The evening started with a ceremony involving each player dedicating to an individual or group who have been impacted by breast cancer. Our hearts go out to everyone who has lost a loved one to this dreadful disease, and the Forest Heights family encourages all our loved ones to get early screening for breast cancer.

The game was an exciting one to say the least and the arena was electric. With only one goal in the first period for FHCS it looked like it was destined to be a close one. Early in the second Digby tied the game up, but something happened to start at the 13:05-mark that no one could have foreseen. The Falcons lit up the scoreboard with 5 unanswered goals in 6 minutes and 18 seconds. The period saw one more goal from each team and the second period ended with the score at 7:2 for the Falcons.

After the intermission, the Mariners came out strong battling back with 3 of their own. The comeback push was led by Longmire who scored, or assisted on, all but one of the Mariners’ goals on the night. They could not however close the gap enough before Matt Hill set up Dylan Rafuse to finished off a double hat trick with 40 sec remaining on the clock.

SUNDAY, OCT. 31

Yarmouth 2 – Barrington 1

The Yarmouth Vikings hosted the Barrington Barons on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 31.

The game started out evenly matched in the 1st period with Yarmouth scoring a goal with 5 minutes remaining in the frame to take a 1-0 lead in the first period. The Vikings’ goal was scored by Jaleel Horton, assisted by Ben MacDonald and Cameron Brown.

In the second period, Yarmouth ran into penalty troubles but Barrington could not capitalize on the man advantage. However, the Barons did score late in the second period to tie the game 1-1. Scoring for Barrington was Owen Penney, assisted by Dakota Ryer and Drew Goreham.

The third period brought penalty trouble for Barrington, with Yarmouth scoring their second goal of the game, and also the game winner, on the powerplay. That goal was scored by Daniel Kenney and assisted by Luke MacLeay and Cameron Brown.

Both goalies played well and made some key saves to keep the game close during the matchup, which was won 2-1 by the Vikings.

Central Kings 4 – Horton 3

The Central Kings Gators hosted the Horton Griffins for an Oct. 31 game.

The early lead went to the Horton Griffins with Colin Tracey (unassisted) scoring with a shot from the point that squeaked in the near post to make it 1-0 Horton. At the 13:31 mark of the first period, with some play from behind the Horton net, Sam Rogers skated out to shoot upstairs, scoring to even the game @1:1 (Rogers, assists Hebb, Turner). 

The rest of the period had play go back and forth, with several power play opportunities for both teams and strong goaltending on both ends of the ice (Goalies, Albrecht and Veinotte). At the end of one the score was Horton 1, Central Kings 1.

Scoring opened up in the second period on a goal by Horton @14:06.  The goal came from very strong play by Horton in the CK corner with Cayden Anderson tapping in a rebound, after a shot by Sorbetti (Anderson, from Sorbetti, Clarke).  With 4:05 remaining in the second period, Central King's Sam Rogers picked up a loose puck on the CK blueline and raced down the left wing to score, bringing the game to a draw at the end of the second period.

The third period opened up with a quick Horton goal with a shot to Locke Albrecht’s right with a bounce off the back glass behind the net, over the crossbar, and into the CK goal.  Unassisted goal by Horton, # 20, CJ Zinck (Zinck, unassisted). 

CK evened the score at 12:06 in the third with a high chip pass off the glass by Liam Moore, picked up by Sam Rogers, who scored on the back hand, evening the game (Rogers, from Moore).  Central Kings scored a powerplay goal with Cody Hebb tapping in a rebound with CK taking a 4-3 lead with 5:16 left in the game (Hebb, from Churchill, Rogers). 

With no further scoring in the game, the final score was Central Kings 4 – Horton 3. 

Thank you to Horton Griffins for the game and to all the fans for their support.  Thanks to Dave White for the videography and play by play of today’s game.

The Girls Division of the Valley High School Hockey League begins season play this evening. The Central Kings Gators host the Avon View Avalanche at 6:15 pm in Berwick to start the 2021-22 season. The Bridgetown Hawks host the West Kings Wolverines at 7:00 pm in Bridgetown and the Northeast Kings Titans will take on the Middleton Monarchs in Canning at the Glooscap District Arena at 8:30 pm.

We wish all the best to our teams, their staff, and our officials. We are looking forward to a safe and successful season.

See you at the rink!

The 2021-2022 VHSHL league season is underway. You can read game recaps from the season opening Oct. 21-24 slate of games from the boys league here. The game recaps are supplied by the home team. 

Thursday, Oct. 21

NKEC 3 – Middleton 1

In a rare Thursday night game, the home side NKEC Titans took on the Middleton Monarchs at the Palace in Canning.  Middleton started off strong and showed that they were going to be a team that can compete with anyone this year. The Monarchs played a feisty game and didn't give the Titans much time or space with the puck.

The Titans struck first on the scoreboard with a goal by Ethan Escott late in the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the first break. 

The second period was much of the same as the first, but with a large amount of penalties being called by the officials the flow of the game was halted and the PK for both teams were put to work.  Both goalies played incredibly well and kept the game close as both teams were exchanging chances. 

NKEC was able to strike again, to take a 2-0 lead late in the second period on a goal from Titan rookie Peter MacDougall. 

The third period saw both sides exchanging chances with each side getting a goal.  The Titan goal scorer was Will Harris, while the Monarchs’ only goal of the game was scored by Riley Noble.   

The game ended with a score of 3-1 for the home side. It was a great start to another season, good luck to everyone this weekend.

FRIDAY, OCT. 22

Park View 5 – Barrington 0

The Barrington Barons hosted the Park View Panthers for the two teams' first games of the VHSHL 2021-2022 season.

The Panthers opened their season with a 5-0 victory on the road over the Barons.

Highlights of the game, scoring-wise, were provided by Nathan Lambourne who picked up two goals and an assist and rookie Fischer Genge who also scored twice.

Captain Ryan Jensen rounded out the scoring. Owen Lockwood had a solid game in net making timely saves earning the shoutout.

The Panthers host their first home game on Saturday night when they play the NKEC Titans.

Avon View 6 – Central Kings 1

On Oct. 22 the Berwick Apple Dome was the site of the season opener for the Central Kings Gators and the Avon View Avalanche. The early play belonged to Avon View. With an early cycle play, they worked the puck to Camdyn Burgess, who came out of the corner to get a shot on Locke Albrecht, who made the initial save, with the rebound going in to give Avon View the 1-0 lead.

Central Kings and Avon View exchanged penalties in the middle minutes of the period with neither side capitalizing on their power plays. About midway through the period, Avon View was outshooting CK 6-3.

Late in the first period Avon View, while short-handed, managed to chip the puck outside their blueline, which was retrieved by Terran Bailey. Bailey skated on a breakaway with a nice move to the backhand and finished upstairs making the score 2-0.  At the end of the period, shots were 11-6 for Avon View.

Starting the second period, Watty Walker of the Gators intercepted a D-to-D Avon View pass, and skated through center ice on a breakaway to release a powerful shot and score top shelf for CK’s first goal of the game and the season.

The play after the goal by Walker was in Avon View’s favor, who kept pressure on the CK team, with the bulk of play in their end.

Late in the second period, Terran Bailey stole the puck in the CK end and scored again with a nice move to finish with his second of the game, making the score 3-1 for Avon View.

Carter Hood, with some nice work down low in the CK end, retrieved the puck and worked it to the front of the CK net where Owen Chaisson finished upstairs to make it 4-1.

A few minutes later, a shot from the point from Avon View resulting in Austin Hood tapping in the rebound making it 5-1 Avon View (assists to Camdyn Burgess and Eric Giswold). 

The final goal came with 3:26 remaining by Brayden Hood, who was left alone in front of the net to finish (assists toTerran Bailie and Brody Richard).

Central Kings battled for two periods with strong goaltending by Locke Albrecht, but the final period tilted in Avon View’s favor. Terran Bailie had a 3-point night, to lead the Avalanche to a victory. The final score was Avon View 6 – Central Kings 1.

Par-en-Bas 5 – Forest Heights 1

Forest Heights Community School held its home opener against the PEB Sharks on Oct. 22.

The Sharks were eager to showcase their new team after their appearance in last year’s final. Forest Heights saw a lot of players age out last year, so the team worked hard to recruit a few players out of retirement in order to build this year’s team.

PEB opened the scoring taking an early 3-0 lead with 7:34 left in the first period. But FHCS fought back by scoring just 4 seconds after the third PEB goal, with an incredible play by Rafuse, Hill, and Connors to break the shutout run and end the first period 3-1. The Falcons played a disciplined game, taking only 3 penalties compared to the 9 from PEB. Unfortunately, the Falcons could not capitalize on their power play opportunities. PEB scored a single in each of the second and third periods, a clear sign that Forest Heights’ new team had settled their nerves. Ultimately, Spencer Surette of the Sharks proved to be hard to contain and ended the game with 2 goals and 1 assist on the night.

Saturday, OCT. 23

Clare 7 – Forest Heights 4

The Clare Loups (2-0-0) held their home opener on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Université Sainte-Anne arena in Church Point in front of a loud home crowd. The Forest Heights Falcons took a 2-0 lead after 1 period of play as Mackenzie Connors (assisted by N. Hill & D. Rafuse) and Matt Hill (from D. Rafuse) both scored on the power play. 

The second period saw the Loups come back to tie the game at 2-2 with goals from Gaetan Deveau (assisted by R. Trimper & Zach Comeau) and Miguel deJesus (from J. Belliveau & L. LeBlanc). The Falcons managed to reply late and take a 3-2 lead with only 34.6 seconds to go in the frame, off a Hudson Broome unassisted goal as Forest Heights took a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. 

The final period saw Forest Heights open up the scoring with only 27 seconds gone as Dylan Rafuse (assisted by M. Hill) hit the twine for the Falcons. Clare then took over the offense for the rest of the period scoring 5 unanswered goals that saw Miguel deJesus with his 2nd goal (J. Belliveau & N. Hanna), Nema Hanna (M. deJesus & A. Theriault), Zack Comeau (Zach Comeau & N. Hanna), Miguel deJesus with his hat trick (C. Comeau & Zach Comeau) and finally Chase Comeau (M. deJesus & Zack Comeau). The final score was 7-4 for Clare. 

The Loups won both games this weekend to start their VHSHL season. Seth Zinck took the loss in nets for the Falcons while Mathieu LeBlanc got the win in nets for Clare.

Scorers for Forest Heights: Matt Hill 1G & 2A - 3 PTS, Dylan Rafuse 1G & 2A - 3 PTS, Mackenzie Connors 1G & Hudson Broome 1G.

Scorers for Clare: Miguel deJesus 3G & 2A - 5 PTS, Nema Hanna 1G & 2A - 3 PTS, Zach Comeau 3A, Zack Comeau 1G & 1A - 2 PTS, Chase Comeau 1G & 1A - 2 PTS, Jakeb Bellveau 2A, Gaetan Deveau 1G, Ryan Trimper 1A, Luca LeBlanc 1A & Alex Theriault 1A. 

Horton 2 – Par-en-Bas 1 (SO)

The Horton Griffins took to the ice to play against the Par-en-Bas Sharks. There was a big crowd to show their support for the home team, but this didn't faze the Sharks.

The Griffins came out trying to throw their weight around, but were a little overzealous and CJ Zink ended up taking a 4-minute hit-to-the-head penalty one minute into the game.

The always crafty # 77 Spencer Surette showed his dominance in the faceoff circle not losing a single draw during the powerplay. The Griffins kept the crafty sharks to the outside and were able to kill off the penalty with limited chances against, and when they did Mason Veinotte was up for the task in the nets. Much of the rest of the period was all Sharks who had possession of the puck for the majority of the period.

The Griffins started to find their feet by the end of the first period and created some good scoring opportunities, but goaltender Miguel Surette was up for the task making several good saves. At the 6:50 mark, the Griffins were able to solve Surette as Cohen Sawler went around the net and made a pass to Brady Clarke in the slot who was able to finish.

The second period was all Sharks and the always dangerous Spencer Surette, #77, took a point shot that went off the boards, and then he wrapped it around the net and beat Veinotte. The second period would end in a 1-1 tie and the Griffins were looking tired.

The Griffins found some energy for the third period to match the Shark's energy but both goaltenders were up for the task and the game headed into the new format of 3-on-3 overtime.

Chances were exchanged for both teams in overtime but again, both goaltenders were up for the task.

In the shootout, both goalies made great saves on the first two shooters but Mason Veinotte made the save of the night on a great move by Surette to his backhand, only to find the glove of a sprawling Veinotte.

CJ Zinck was able to solve Miguel Surette in net with a backhand to forward deke.

Then Mason Veinotte was able to shut the door on the final Shark shooter for a win for the Griffins.

It was a clean game with only 8 penalties in total.

Park View 5 – NKEC 0

The Park View Panthers hosted the NKEC Titans in their home opener on Saturday night in the cozy confines of the Lunenburg Arena. With a large home crowd behind them, the Panthers stormed out of the gate carrying the play and putting lots of pressure on the Titans.

Stellar goaltending by David McCulley kept the Panthers at bay until the 7:25 mark of the first period when captain Ryan Jensen dented the twine with Mitch MacIntosh and Carlos White picking up the assists.

The Panthers continued to pressure the Titans, carrying the play and firing shots on McCulley who was up to the challenge stopping them all. That, however, changed with 1:45 remaining in the first period when a point shot from Liam Sylvester was redirected in front, finding the back of the net. Although Sylvester was credited with the goal, it was the stick of Dylan Demone that did the damage.

This seemed to ignite a fire in Demone who potted his second of the game on the PP shortly thereafter with only .03 seconds remaining in the opening frame, with assists going to Jack Barry and Fischer Genge.

The Titans came out strong to start the second period, putting the pressure on the Panthers, however, stellar goaltending by Charlie Whitty kept them off the board.  At 8:12 of the frame, Mitch MacIntosh extended the lead for the Panthers with assists going to Ethan Corkum and Jonas Talbot. Nathan Culbert rounded out the scoring in the third, picking up his first of the season with the assist going to Ethan Corkum.

In what can best be described as a hard-fought physical battle with great goaltending from both Charlie Whitty and David McCulley, the Panthers prevailed picking up the 5-0 win.

Central Kings 4 – Digby 3

This year the Digby Mariners have returned to the VHSHL after a year off.

The Mariners had their home opener against the always-strong Central Kings Gators. It was a back and forth game with both teams playing hard.

Digby opened the scoring in the first period with a goal from Austin Walker. CK tied it up with one from Sam Rogers. The first period ended with a 1-1 tie.

The second period saw Rogers with two more goals and one from Mariner Daniel Jamieson. The teams went into the third period CK in the lead and Digby trailing 4-2. The Mariners’ Avery Gunn scored the only goal in the third period that saw the game end in CK’s favour with a 4-3 win over Digby.  

It was a great game, even with the loss for the Mariners in their first game back in the league.

SUNDAY, OCT. 24

West Kings 3 – Yarmouth 2

The Yarmouth Vikings hosted the West Kings Wolverines in the Vikings’ first home game of the VHSHL 2021-2022 season.

West Kings came out strong, outshooting YCMHS by a larger margin in the game. However, the game remained scoreless after one period.

Yarmouth scored 2 goals in the 2nd period, with WK scoring a late goal to make it 2-1 for the Vikings after 2 periods.

In the 3rd period, WK again outshot YCMHS and scored 2 more goals.

Yarmouth hit the post late in the game but could not get the equalizer.

The visiting Wolverines ended up winning the game 3-2.

A shout out to Yarmouth goalie Brady Saulnier who played a strong game, stopping 51 shots in the loss.