Crunch beats Clare in shootout

By Jonathan Riley

DIGBY COURIER

NovaNewsNow.com

Clare may have lost the battle, but they can still win the banner.

The Lions lost 4-3 in shootouts to the Harbour Crunch at home in Church Point last night, Friday, Feb. 8.

Clare earned a point, the Crunch earned two and now the two teams are now tied point-wise atop the Nova Scotia Junior C Hockey League standings.

But because Clare has one more win, they are in first. (Clare 24-3-2; Crunch 23-2-4)

“What this does is make a very interesting finish to the season,” says Clare general manager Francis Robichaud, shaking his head and smiling. “This is a very tight finish. It comes right down to the wins and losses columns.”

Richard Patterson, coach and general manager of the Crunch pointed out his team knocked down two psychological barriers with one puck.

“We broke the jinx. We’ve lost four times in overtime this year. So it’s nice to break that jinx before playoffs.

“And we’ve never beaten the Lions before. And, hey, we did it in their own barn.

“This is a good confidence booster and something to talk about coming down here next time. ‘We’ve done it before, we can do it again.’”

The Crunch fell behind early on as the Lions jumped out 2-0 on two goals from Daniel Arsenault. Both were powerplay goals.

The first came nine minutes in with the Crunch pinned in their end and scrambling.

The second one, a minute and a half later, started with a beautiful cross-ice pass from Peter Evans that put Arsenault in alone against Justin Mitchell, the Crunch goalie.

Harbour’s Kyle Hallett, the league’s leading scorer, was in the penalty box for interference.

A minute and a half later he made up for that by stripping the puck from the Lions’ goalie Jeremy McKinnon behind the net.

His pass out front found Kyle Miller alone with the whole net to shoot at.

The Lions outshot the Crunch 11-4 in the first period.

The Crunch came out of the dressing room with a lot more jump – assistant captain Craig Armstrong helped Alex Keinapple tie it up only a minute and a half into the middle period.

Two minutes later Clare was in serious penalty trouble – Arsenault was given two minutes at 2:54 in and then Corey Deveau was assessed four minutes for high stick after Miller limped to the bench bleeding from a cut just above his left eye at 4:05 in.

With only seconds left in the first penalty, Hallett scored assisted by Armstrong and Kyle Finlay to make it 3-2.

Every time Hallett scores, he sets a new Nova Scotia Junior C scoring record. He now has 49 points and is really hoping to break 50 today, Saturday, Feb. 9 in Yarmouth.

Most of the second period was intense end-to-end hockey with a lot of tough slogging in the neutral zone.

Referee Robert Morgan threw Harbour’s Evan Densmore out of the game for spearing with four minutes to go in the second.

Clare’s Jacques Lombard almost took advantage of the powerplay to tie the game. He was given a perfect pass, wide open in front with the whole net to shot at but the puck just glanced over the crossbar.

The Crunch outshot the Lions 13-8 in the second.

In the third and on the powerplay, Clare’s Lombard and Ryan Gallant moved the puck back to Renel Deveau at the blueline. The Crunch gave Deveau tons of time to load up his slapshot, which ripped by an unsuspecting Mitchell. 3-3 with 10:18 on the clock.

The third ended with the teams tied and even the shots on goal were a virtual dead heat: 13- 12 Clare.

Overtime in the NSJRCHL is a five-minute fourth period followed by five shooters each in a shootout and then sudden death shootout.

There was no score in the fourth and the teams made up their lists.

Miller started for the Crunch and missed; Marc MacIntosh drove the crowd wild when he lifted his backhand over Mitchell’s pads.

Keinapple and Lombard missed and then Armstrong tied it up with a fake shot before firing it five hole.

Deveau missed his and Hallett also went five hole.

“I always go five hole, always,” says Hallett. “I actually hesitated cause I was about to change my mind and shoot high but then I went five hole anyway.”

Clare Captain Shawn Bernard and assistant captain Ryan Gallant both missed their shots and the Crunch had won the battle.

“It’s less painful cause it is a shootout,” said Robichaud. “And I guess now we’re even. We did this to them last time.”

Clare beat Harbour 4-3 in shootouts on Jan. 26 at the Eastern Shore arena.

Hallett says he loved playing in Clare with the huge and noisy crowd.

“I feed off it. It pumps me up even if they score and they’re cheering. It makes me play a lot better.”

Hallett and the Crunch move on to face the Yarmouth Admirals (10-14-3) for a 7:30 p.m. start tonight, Saturday, Feb. 9. Harbour beat the Admirals 10-1 back in November and have every reason to expect another two points tonight.

Clare meanwhile is counting on two points from the North Shore Storm (5-20-1) who are droping in from Tatamagouche tonight, Saturday, at 8 p.m. The Lions beat the Storm 7-0 back on Jan. 27.

“Now we know we have to win,” says Robichaud. “That’s about it.”