The Yarmouth Mariners got a big win on Wednesday night by defeating the league-leading Woodstock Slammers 5-4 on the road.
Not only did the Mariners hand the Slammers, who have 81 points, their only third loss of the season, but the win tied the Mariners for the fifth playoff spot with the Amherst Ramblers. Both teams now have 38 points.
The Mariners play the Halifax Lions Thursday night in Halifax and host Woodstock at home on Saturday.
During Wednesday evening’s game with Woodstock, Carl Hayes led the Mariners with two goals and one assist while Jason Chiasson added one goal and one assist.
Hayes opened the scoring 37 seconds into the game to give the Mariners an early 1-0 lead. Hayes (second goal of game) scored at 8:13 to extend the lead to 2-0. Tyler Gale scored at 14:00 to get the Slammers on the scoreboard at 2-1. Robert Zandbeek (powerplay) scored at 16:49 to tie the game at 2-2 after the first period. Chiasson scored at 1:29 to regain the lead for Yarmouth at 3-2. Brogan Bailey scored at 2:46 to knot the score at 3-3. Marco Desveaux (powerplay) scored at 16:48 to reclain the lead for the Mariners at 4-3 after the second period. Branden Kosolofsky scored at 3:08 to deadlock the game at 4-4 until Brennan Wright (game winner) scored 6 seconds later to secure the win.
The Mariners went 1 for 4 on the powerplay while Woodstock went 1 for 7.
Alex Newman stopped 52 of 56 shots for the win while Tyler Piercy stopped 21 of 26 in the loss.
