Boys league game recaps from the Nov. 26-28 weekend. The game recaps are supplied by the home teams and posted when they are received, coupled with the availability of the webmaster. 

Saturday, Nov. 27

Avon View 2 – Park View 0

Avon View Avalanche Head Coach Mark Tye replied after Saturday evening’s 2-0 win over the Park View Panthers in Valley Boys League Play in Windsor, “That it took us a while but we got better as the game progressed,” while describing the goaltending by the Avalanche’s Jaden Croft and Park View’s Owen Lockwood as “stellar.”

With the win the Avalanche improved their regular season record to 6-0-0 having scored 50 goals while allowing only 3.  For Park View, it marked their 2nd loss of the season and puts them at 7-2-0. 

In Saturday’s game Terran Baillie missed early on a backhander close to the Panthers net. The Avalanche who outshot the Panthers 17-2 in the opening frame had a couple of other excellent scoring opportunities. Gavin Sheehy split the Panther defense on a beautiful play but his shot went inches over the right cross-bar. The Avalanche’s other exceptional scoring opportunity occurred when Camden Burgess passed over to Terran Baillie only to see Lockwood stop Baillie stone cold with a pad save.  The Panthers started the second period short-handed as Nathan Lambourne was handed a cross-checking penalty with 43 seconds to play in the first.

Carter Hood of the Avalanche, with only 3 seconds remaining in Lambourne’s penalty early in the second, took a pass from Camden Burgess and Brayden Hood in just over the Panthers blue-line and let a shot rip to put Avon View ahead 1-0. 

Park View played a far better second period outshooting the Avalanche 16-10, but it was Croft in the Avon View nets who played a version of “miracle on ice” goaltending-wise who was on his stomach on the ice with his goaltending stick laying 5-10 feet away while Park View did everything humanly possible to push the puck into the net with the puck laying in the crease three separate times but it somehow stayed out.  Park View kept applying pressure as the Avalanche played two men short for 31 seconds but Croft stood on his head.  Then Lambourne with an Avalanche player returning to the ice from a penalty,  let a hard wrist shot go and Croft made a great glove save.  Lambourne seconds later went in on a breakaway for the Panthers but somehow shot it over the net.  Croft was brilliant again in the final 5 minutes of the second period as the Avalanche killed off another penalty.

To begin the third period, Baillie hit the crossbar for the Avalanche.  Zack McPhee was robbed blind by Lockwood directly in front of the Panther net and then Brody Richard had another great chance but was robbed again by Stockwell.  The Avalanche finally got their desperately needed second goal as Brayden Jodrey with exceptional hard work around the Panther net finally scored from the side of Lockwood as he was making every attempt with the puck to get in front of the net when he shot it with 9:13 to play in regulation.

The game finished with some needless penalties from both sides and actually had the Avalanche playing 3 versus 6 for Parkview in the final 1:21 as Lockwood went to the bench.  The Avalanche however, despite the flurry of foolish penalties minutes before, kept their cool and essentially controlled the play in the final 1:21 to win the game 2-0.

The Avalanche will now await the Clare Loups for a contest Saturday Dec 4 at 7 p.m. before hitting the road Sunday Dec 5 for a contest in Digby.

Middleton 5 – Barrington 3

The Barrington Barons braved the snowy roads to visit the Middleton Monarchs for a very exciting Saturday night game.

The Monarchs’ Michael Hoogerwerf opened the scoring early in the first, only to be answered 30 seconds later by the Barons Owen Penney.

Both teams showed up to play and play they did! A hard battle ensued for the rest of the first period, ending with a 1-1 tie.

Not quite five minutes into the second, the Barons’ Owen Penney struck again but the Monarchs rallied back with 2 shorthanded goals by Michael Hoogerwerf and Riley Noble to bring the Monarchs in the lead. Haden DenHaan scored a late goal with 28 seconds to end the second period 4-2 for the Monarchs.

The Barons came out with fire in the third, determined to even the score and managed to net a beautiful powerplay goal with just 5 minutes left. Michael Hoogerwerf ended all hope with just 2 and a half minutes remaining, adding a hat trick to his night.

Final score 5-3 Monarchs.  A great game to watch with both teams giving it all.

Horton 6 – Forest Heights 2

On Saturday night the Forest Heights Falcons travelled to Kentville to try to beat the Horton Griffins for a second time this year.

The Falcons started off strong with many chances that Mason Veinotte had to be sharp on. The first period ended 0-0.

In the second period, Cayden Andersen started the scoring for the Griffins with a beautiful shot top-shelf and the Griffins would score two more unanswered goals in the second period for a 3-0 lead going into the third period.

The Falcons were determined to not go away in this game and scored 5 minutes and 30 seconds into the third period. The goal was scored by Madden Myrah and assisted by Dylan Rafuse and Matt Hill.

The Griffins responded with two goals of their own to make it 5-1 (goal scorers were Cohen Sawler and Jesse Bidgood).

The Falcons looked like they were going to try to mount a comeback with a goal from Matt Hill with 3:59 mark but all hopes were dashed when Hugo Sorbetti scored 12 seconds later to make it 6-2 which was the final score.

Game scoring recap:

Horton Griffins:

Cayden Andersen: 1 goal and 1 assist

Mac Harnum: 1 goal and 1 assist

Cohen Sawler: 1 goal and 1 assist

Hugo Sorbetti: 1 goal and 1 assist

Colin Tracey: 1 assist

Jesse Bidgood 1 goal

Forest Heights Falcons:

Matt Hill: 1 goal and 1 assist

Madden Myrah: 1 goal

Dylan Rafuse: 1 assist

MacKenzie Connors: 1 assist

Sunday, Nov 28

Par-en-Bas 5 – Yarmouth 4 (Shootout)

On Sunday the fans of the Yarmouth Vikings and École Secondaire de Par-en-Bas Sharks were treated to an exciting game of hockey. This was the second meeting of the weekend. The Sharks beat the Vikings Friday night 5-3 in a retro jersey game.

In the first period, the teams exchanged chances, and each had powerplay opportunities that ended without scoring.

The second period was a different story. The Sharks’ Lucas Cottreau scored his first goal of the season with a rebound goal off a Riley Hubbard shot. The Sharks scored 4 minutes later with another rebound goal by Caleb d’Entremont. Just when Par-en-Bas thought they had the Vikings, their deadly powerplay got to work. Landon Watkins-Bonnar scored 2 goals 20 seconds apart to tie the game up for the Vikings, one of the two coming on the poweplay. The lethal Yarmouth powerplay scored another goal by Luke MacLeay 2 minutes later to give the Vikings their first lead of the game.  The period ended 3-2 in Yarmouth’s favour.

Going into the 3rd period, the Vikings played a smart puck possession game to not allow Par-en-Bas to have time enough to tie the game. PEB’s first line of Blake Newell, Chandler LeBlanc and Spencer Surette decided it was time to make a difference being a minus 2 on the night already Blake Newell tied the game at 10:44 of the 3rd. Yarmouth, not impressed by Par-en-Bas’s goal, scored with 3:09 left in the game after having the Sharks hemmed into their zone for 2 minutes, putting the Vikings ahead 4-3. Par-en-Bas, not forgetting the 2 losses the Vikings handed to them last season, wanted desperately to tie the game. With the Sharks’ net empty, Spencer Surette scored with 39 seconds left on the clock.

Overtime saw each team exchange chances but this game had to be decided by a shootout. Cameron Brown shot first for the Vikings and scored. The Sharks’ shooter Chandler LeBlanc was stopped by goaltender Brady Saulnier. The next 2 shooters for Yarmouth missed, which meant Par-en-Bas’s Spencer Surette had to score to keep the game going and that’s exactly what he did. In the sixth round of the shootout, Yarmouth’s Tyler MacLeod missed which meant the Shark’s Noal Saulnier had the game on his stick. Saulnier beat Saulnier with a quick wrist shot low glove side to seal the win for the Sharks.

The fans of these two teams were treated to an amazing afternoon of hockey.

Scoring for Yarmouth Landon Watkins-Bonnar (2), Luke MacLeay and Daniel Kenney with 1 each.

Scoring for PEB Lucas Cottreau, Caleb d’Entremont, Blake Newell, Spencer Surette and Nolan Saulnier (shootout winner)

Weekend scores:

Par-en-Bas 5 – Yarmouth 3

Park View 6 – Forest Heights 5

Avon View 9 – West Kings 1

Horton 6 – Barrington 0

Horton 6 – Forest Heights 2

Middleton 5 – Barrington 3

West Kings 8 – Digby 2

Avon View 2 – Park View 0

Par-en-Bas 5 – Yarmouth 4 (shootout)