By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
The Yarmouth Mariners came out of this past weekend still in first place in the Eastlink Division of the MHL.
But while first place in the division didn’t change, the same can’t be said for second and third place, which saw Amherst and Truro trading places.
At the end of the weekend Yarmouth was in first place with 62 points (30 wins, eight losses). Amherst had slid into second place with 59 points and Truro – which lost three of its last four games – fell to third place with 58 points. Amherst and Truro both had records of 27 wins and nine losses.
The Mariners picked up three out of four points over the weekend, with a 5-2 win over Miramichi Saturday night and a 2-2 tie in regulation play with Amherst the night before. The Ramblers went on to win the Feb. 1 game in a shootout. Amherst’s Maxime Richard scored the goal to tie the game with just 10.1 seconds showing on the scoreboard. He also scored the only goal in the shootout.
Yarmouth’s two goals of the game were scored by Brandon Bussey (Josh Desmond, Jared Hicks) and Paul Lamoureux (Matt Wright, Derek Larade). Amherst went 0 for 4 on the powerplay while Yarmouth went 1 for 4. Richard Tingley stopped 34 of 36 shots for the tie, while Travis Wilkins stopped 29 of 31 shots in the tie.
On Saturday night the ending of the game wasn’t the nail biter that it had been the night before, although the fans didn’t think Miramichi’s goals deserved to be counted due to a crossbar for one and the question of whether the net was off for the other. What Miramichi thought to be a third goal in the third period was quickly waived off. Yarmouth’s last of five goals of the night was scored on the empty net.
Scoring for Yarmouth Saturday night were Colin Campbell, Kevin Reid, Brandon Bussey, Jared Hicks and Derek Larade. Cody Castro picked up a pair of assists, also adding assists were Kyle Campbell, Jon Johannesson, Josh Desmond, Zack Henry, Bussey and Larade.
Yarmouth’s Chase Gaudet stopped 29 of 31 shots for the win while Jordan Kennedy – who was busy between the pipes – stopped 53 of 57 Yarmouth shots.
Elsewhere in the MHL that night Pictou shaded Truro 6-5. Truro also lost two games to Amherst last week.
Yarmouth’s next game is a Tuesday evening road game against the Metro Shipbuilders. This weekend the Mariners are on the road with games against Summerside and Dieppe.
