The Yarmouth Mariners remain in first place in the MHL’s Eastlink Division after the weekend, and are one of five teams in the league that have already clinched a playoff spot, but the team’s top goal this past weekend – beating the Truro Bearcats – fell short in a 6-5 loss at the Mariners Centre on Saturday night.
With these two teams having traded the first place position in the Eastlink Division a few times this season, it was no surprise that the Jan. 12 game was played before a sold out crowd.
The Mariners scored first and early with a goal by Morgan Messenger (Colin Campbell, Josh Desmond) at 1:10 in the first period. Yarmouth’s lead then went up to 2-0 with a goal by Brandon Bussey, playing his first game with the Mariners that night. His goal was assisted by Jared Hicks and Zack Henry. Truro’s Alex Hazelhurst put the Bearcats on the scoreboard with a powerplay goal late in the first.
Quickly in the second period the Mariners saw their lead evaporate with Truro’s Kyle Morrison scoring at 1:52 and Dylan McGuigan scoring at 2:41 to give the Bearcats the 3-2 edge. But on the powerplay while Truro was serving a boarding penalty, Hicks (Henry, Rodney Mahoney) evened the score at 8:33 in the second. Truro’s Daniel Perigo would take the wind out of the Mariners’ sails with a goal just over a minute later to give Truro a 4-3 heading into the third period.
It took a long time to get through the second period, with eight penalties coming as the buzzer sounded to end the period. The Mariners did not like the fact that one of the Truro players shot the puck into the Mariners net after the buzzer ending the period had sounded and that led to several melees on the ice and some roughing after the whistle. The end result included four 10-minute misconducts – two for Truro and two for Yarmouth, including one handed to the Mariners’ other newest player, Paul Lamoureux. The other misconduct went to Cody Castro. Yarmouth’s Braden Mercier got a major for fighting.
Yarmouth evened out the score to 4-4 with a powerplay goal by Morgan Messenger at 10:10 in the third. But the turning point in the game came when Yarmouth’s Kevin Reid was handed a five-minute major for goalie interference and a game misconduct after spilling into the net on top of Bearcats goalie Shayne Campbell, who remained down on the ice for a few minutes. The fans were visibly not pleased with the call, many feeling that Reid had been shoved into the net by Truro on the rush. Truro scored twice in that major with goals from Grant West and Philip Fife to extend Truro’s lead to 6-4.
Yarmouth’s new player, Bussey (Desmond, Castro) scored his second of the night with just over two minutes left in the game. The Mariners pulled their goalie for the extra attacker at the end of the game but were unable to tie things up.
Truro’s Shayne Campbell turned away 36 of 41 Mariners shots on net, while Travis Wilkins stopped 31 of Truro’s 37 shots.
Truro went three for four on the powerplay with Yarmouth going two for nine.
Here is a game recap of the penalties handed out during the game:
1st Period Penalties
TB, Kyle Morrison, Blow To The Head - Minor 8:
TB, Kyle Morrison, Misconduct - Blow To The Head 8:10
TB, Grant West, Fighting - Major 11:25
TB, Grant West, Instigator - Minor 11:25
YM, Matt Tomah, Roughing - Minor 11:25
TB, Grant West, Aggressor - Minor 11:25
YM, Jared Hicks 'A', Boarding - Minor 12:13
YM, Jon Johannesson, Slashing - Minor 17:55
TB, Patrick Downe, Interference - Minor 19:18
2nd Period Penalties
TB, Alex Hazelhurst, Boarding - Minor 8:18
TB, Zack Evans-Renaud, Interference - Minor 12:13
YM, Derek Larade, Roughing - Minor 18:59
TB, Travis Moore, Slashing - Minor 19:54
TB, Philip Fife, Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Minor 20:00
TB, Patrick Downe, Fighting - Major 20:00
TB, Zack Evans-Renaud, 10 Minute Misconduct 20:00
TB, Dylan McGuigan, 10 Minute Misconduct 20:00
YM, Josh Desmond, Roughing After The Whistle - Minor 20:00
YM, Braden Mercier, Fighting - Major 20:00
YM, Cody Castro, 10 Minute Misconduct 20:00
YM, Paul Lamoureux, 10 Minute Misconduct 20:00
3rd Period Penalties
YM, Derek Larade, 10 Minute Misconduct 5:17
TB, Tyler Morrison, 10 Minute Misconduct 5:17
TB, Travis Moore, Roughing After The Whistle - Minor 8:55
YM, Kevin Reid, Goaltender Interference - Major 10:49
YM, Kevin Reid, Game Misconduct 10:49
TB, Adam Guy, Slashing - Minor 14:34
On Friday night the Mariners had defeated the Miramichi Timberwolves 5-2 at home. The game marked the return of Chase Gaudet between the pipes for the Mariners. Gaudet recently rejoined the team following a stint in the Q league. Gaudet didn't have a lot thrown at him that night, stopping 11 of 13 shots for the win. Miramichi’s Jorden Kennedy stopped 28 or 33 shots in the loss. The Mariners went four for seven on the powerplay, while the Timberwolves went 0 for 4.
Rodney Mahoney had two goals Friday night. Also scoring were Jared Hicks, Zack Henry and Kevin Reid.
