Ducks vex Royals

The Ducks are proving to be vexatious to the Royals. But it’s hard to say where the Windsor squad will finish.

For Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League fans, whenever the St. Margaret's Bay Ducks are mentioned, usually the first thing to come to mind is the fact they have the second worst record in the league for the 2007-2008 regular season with only seven wins in 30 games. The other 23 have all been losses, 20 in regulation, two in overtime and one in a shoot-out. Though the Ducks won the Atlantic Junior Championships two seasons ago but this season they have struggled and as of Feb. 6 stood at 7-20-2-1 for only 17 points and six points out of a playoff spot.

The only problem with this scenario is that three of the Ducks seven wins this season have come against the Windsor Junior Royals -- the most recent being a 5-3 setback suffered by the host club Friday, Feb. 1, at Hants Exhibition Arena.

The Royals grabbed a 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes on a goal by Jeff Backman with an assist from Cody Hebb with 1:56 to play in the first. The Royals went up 2-0 on a short-handed goal from Ryan Gale at 5:28 of the second before St. Margaret's tied it at 2-2 after 40 minutes. The Ducks made every last chance count as they were badly outshot by the Royals 46-26 including 18-9 in the final period. Sam Webb scored the third and final Windsor goal. It was the last meeting of the regular season between the two clubs and they won't play again unless they meet in the playoffs.

They could meet in the opening round if the Royals hang on and clinch first place and the Ducks can overtake the Brookfield Elks for the fourth and final playoff spot, but the Ducks as of Feb. 6 trailed the Elks by six points with two games in hand. The Elks helped themselves with a huge 7-4 win over the Bay in Brookfield Feb. 5.

The Royals’ three wins over the Bay this season came by scores of 7-5, 7-2 and 7-6 -- while their losses were by the count of 4-3, 5-4 and the above mentioned 5-3 with Windsor outscoring St. Margaret's 31-27 in total in the six games.

The Royals took over first place by a single point over East Hants when they sidelined the Brookfield Elks 5-1 on Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 3 at Hants Exhibition Arena. The game was a make-up from Jan. 18, when the Elks couldn't travel due to bus problems.

Windsor led 3-1 after the opening period and 5-1 after 40 minutes with no scoring in the third. Royals snipers were Dylan Shearer with his 20 and 21st goals of the season to go along with his 32 assists to lead the club in scoring with 53 points, Riley Lewis, Keith Burgess and Sam Webb. Lewis, Burgess and Shearer's second goal all came on the power-play.

The Sackville Blazers were in town Friday, Feb. 1, and the Royals were scheduled to close out the regular season Friday, Feb. 8 Friday against arch-rival East Hants.

Going into play in East Hants, the Royals sat in first place with 41 points and the Penguins second with 40.

Until the regular season is complete and the divisional standings are finalized, it is hard to know what the first round of playoffs will look like for the Royals.