ANTIGONISH, N.S. — ANTIGONISH, NS - Keyed by a natural hat-trick from forward Spencer Barron, the Antigonish AA Munro Junior Bulldogs cruised to an 8-2 victory over the rival Strait Pirates in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League action.
The teams clashed Sunday night (Nov. 17) at the Antigonish Arena.
After jumping off the bench, Bulldog captain Andrew Boyle took a feed in the slot and beat Pirate goaltender Cody Smith to opening the scoring.
Zachary Forsythe and Cory MacLellan notched the assists.
Just more than two minutes later, Barron ripped a shot top shelf to give the home team a 2-0 edge, less than five minutes into the first period.
William Kelly and Connor MacEachern collected the helpers.
Barron batted in a rebound to make it 3-0, on assists from Kelly and Ryan Kennedy.
Barron, unassisted, finished off his three-goal spurt – over an eight-minute period – when he rang a hard shot off the goal post and in behind Smith.
Pirate head coach Taylor Lambke took a timeout after that to settle down his club.
There were no more goals before the end of the first period and the Bulldogs led 4-0 after 20 minutes.
Antigonish native Peter Kopf replaced Smith to start the second period.
Fifty-four seconds in, Branden Dauphinee – on an assist from Austin Woodland – raced in alone and beat Jared Green to put the Pirates on the scoreboard.
A short time later, high-scoring forward Avery Warner tried to make it 4-2 but he could not stuff the puck behind Green.
On the power play, the Bulldogs regained their four-goal edge, when Keegan Gauthier slid a loose puck under Kopf after a scramble in the crease.
Trailing 5-1, the Pirate goaltender kept his team within striking distance with consecutive saves.
Midway through the second, Josh Foster laced a point shot through traffic on the power play, with Austin Woodland and Jason Johnson notching the helpers.
At 5-2, with the Bulldogs on the power play, Kopf made a great stop on Gauthier, while seconds later, Barron’s one-timer, which came off the heel of his stick, sailed wide behind Kopf.
After Jacob Nobbe hit the goal post, Kopf made consecutive acrobatic saves MacLellan.
The Pirates came up empty on a late man advantage and trailed by three heading to the third period.
Sam Mattie, only 59 seconds into the final stanza, gave the home team a 6-2 lead, when he bested Kopf on a breakaway.
Sam Legere and Fearghus MacDonald assisted.
Scott Chiasson, from Gauthier and Forsythe, and Kennedy – unassisted – made it 8-2 by the midway point of the third period.
Green made 22 saves for the win.
Smith took the loss, making 13 stops, while Kopf had 12 saves in relief.
It was the second regular-season battle between the Sid Rowe division teams.
The Bulldogs won round one 4-3 in a shootout.
Both teams will be back in action Friday, Nov. 22.
The Bulldogs will travel to Membertou to face the Junior Miners, while the Pirates will host the Sackville Blazers at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.
Puck drop for both match-ups is 7:30 p.m.
