The Memorial Marauders and Glace Bay Panthers advanced to the final after defeating the Horton Griffins and Avon View Avalanche in a semi-final showdown Nov. 12. The championship final will be held at 1 p.m. at the Hants Exhibition Arena.
“We played well and worked exceptionally hard with our backs to the wall,” said Horton's head coach Jeff Moore as he reflected on the final round-robin game that advanced the team to the semi-finals.
In a must-win affair, Horton defeated the Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals from Antigonish 2-0 to secure the semi-final birth.
However, Moore said the Griffins “played poorly” in the semi-final against the Memorial Marauders, from North Sydney. They were hammered 9-1.
Horton fell behind 5-0, with the undefeated, 3-0, Marauders, scoring just 33 seconds into the second semi-final game of the evening.
The Marauders deadly duo of Dylan Morley, who played last season with the Valley Wildcats Junior A team, and Ryan Lettic teamed up to make the game a sleeper by assisting or scoring on four of Memorial’s five first period goals.
The Griffins struggled to find rhythm on the ice.
It took less than two minutes into the second period for Memorial to go up 7-0.
By the time the Griffins team captain Cody Burghardt scored his team’s lone goal of the game, with slightly more than three minutes to play in the second period, Memorial had scored their eighth of the game.
They added their ninth and final marker in the third period.
Jordan Hartt, who worked exceptionally hard for the Griffins, was chosen as his team’s MVP for the game.
Moore said he wasn't surprised by the strength of the Cape Breton teams in the tournament.
“Cape Breton has a lot of pride in their high school sports and I have heard a great deal about their hockey programs and have played against teams from there in the past,” said Moore.
Horton finished 2-1-0 in the round robin.
Avon View loses to Glace Bay
As for the Avon View Avalanche, they advanced to the semi-finals because the Sackville Kingfishers could not score enough goals in their game with Amherst.
Although Sackville blanked the Amherst Vikings 3-0 in their last round robin game, they needed to win the game by seven goals. This is because Avon View finished the tournament with a +1 goal differential while Sackville was at -2 as both clubs finished the round-robin tied at 1-1-1.
After the Avalanche came so close to defeating Memorial in their last round robin game (the Marauders won 2-1), fans were hoping to see a spirited semi-final game between Avon View and the Glace Bay Panthers.
The Avalanche, however, were quiet from the start, and could not get any sustained attack going despite taking an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Liam Porter.
The Avalanche and Panthers were tied 1-1 after the first period before Glace Bay scored twice in the middle frame and grabbed a 4-2 lead. The final Avalanche goal came off a tip in by Liev Ryan, who scored his third goal of the tournament.
To see more photos from the round robin games, click here, and to see photos from the opening game between the Avon View Avalanche and Sackville Kingfishers, click here.
The Memorial Marauders and Glace Bay Panthers advanced to the final after defeating the Horton Griffins and Avon View Avalanche in a semi-final showdown Nov. 12. The championship final will be held at 1 p.m. at the Hants Exhibition Arena.
“We played well and worked exceptionally hard with our backs to the wall,” said Horton's head coach Jeff Moore as he reflected on the final round-robin game that advanced the team to the semi-finals.
In a must-win affair, Horton defeated the Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals from Antigonish 2-0 to secure the semi-final birth.
However, Moore said the Griffins “played poorly” in the semi-final against the Memorial Marauders, from North Sydney. They were hammered 9-1.
Horton fell behind 5-0, with the undefeated, 3-0, Marauders, scoring just 33 seconds into the second semi-final game of the evening.
The Marauders deadly duo of Dylan Morley, who played last season with the Valley Wildcats Junior A team, and Ryan Lettic teamed up to make the game a sleeper by assisting or scoring on four of Memorial’s five first period goals.
The Griffins struggled to find rhythm on the ice.
It took less than two minutes into the second period for Memorial to go up 7-0.
By the time the Griffins team captain Cody Burghardt scored his team’s lone goal of the game, with slightly more than three minutes to play in the second period, Memorial had scored their eighth of the game.
They added their ninth and final marker in the third period.
Jordan Hartt, who worked exceptionally hard for the Griffins, was chosen as his team’s MVP for the game.
Moore said he wasn't surprised by the strength of the Cape Breton teams in the tournament.
“Cape Breton has a lot of pride in their high school sports and I have heard a great deal about their hockey programs and have played against teams from there in the past,” said Moore.
Horton finished 2-1-0 in the round robin.
Avon View loses to Glace Bay
As for the Avon View Avalanche, they advanced to the semi-finals because the Sackville Kingfishers could not score enough goals in their game with Amherst.
Although Sackville blanked the Amherst Vikings 3-0 in their last round robin game, they needed to win the game by seven goals. This is because Avon View finished the tournament with a +1 goal differential while Sackville was at -2 as both clubs finished the round-robin tied at 1-1-1.
After the Avalanche came so close to defeating Memorial in their last round robin game (the Marauders won 2-1), fans were hoping to see a spirited semi-final game between Avon View and the Glace Bay Panthers.
The Avalanche, however, were quiet from the start, and could not get any sustained attack going despite taking an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Liam Porter.
The Avalanche and Panthers were tied 1-1 after the first period before Glace Bay scored twice in the middle frame and grabbed a 4-2 lead. The final Avalanche goal came off a tip in by Liev Ryan, who scored his third goal of the tournament.
To see more photos from the round robin games, click here, and to see photos from the opening game between the Avon View Avalanche and Sackville Kingfishers, click here.
