Mariners one win away from MJAHL Bent Division crown

The Yarmouth Mariners are one win away from winning the Bent Division finals and moving on to the league championship.

The Mariners lead the MJAHL Maurice Bent division final three games to one after their 4-3 overtime win over the Pictou County Weeks Crushers at John Brother MacDonald Stadium on Thursday night. It was their third consecutive win of the series after dropping the first game to Pictou.

The Mariners won Game 4 at 4:40 into overtime, when a point shot hit a stick, then a defender and somehow got past Crushers’ goalie Alexandre Quessy. Brandon Lownes got credit for the tally.

The Crushers had built a 3-1 lead, and for the second straight night let a two-goal advantage slip away.

Tyson Cameron got things going when he wristed a shot behind Dallas Ungarian on a power play, 13 minutes into the game.

The Mariners tied it in the second on a Jordan Scott (Ryan Penney) goal, but Lauchlin MacInnis restored the Crushers lead just moments later. A Yarmouth defender tried to knock down a high, floating shot from MacInnis using his glove, only instead of gloving it to his stick the puck went off the Yarmouth player’s mitt and into his own net.

Pictou’s Jason Rinzler scored his 10th goal of the playoffs a few minutes later by turning a Yarmouth defenceman inside out and then deking Ungarian, sliding a backhand home.

The Mariners got closer when defenceman Geoff McNaughton lost his footing at the Crushers’ blue line that allowed Matt Duff (Cody LeFrancois, Scott Sack) to go in and beat Quessy with a quick shot. Two moments dented Pictou County's lineup in the middle period – Geoff Hum was ejected for a hit from behind, costing the Crushers a key penalty killer, then defenceman Jevin MacLellan left the game with an unspecified injury. His status for Game 5 is unknown.

With both teams battling hard in the third, Yarmouth tied it midway through the period on a Danny Anger (Jordan Scott, Matt Rhymer) goal, setting the stage for overtime.

Dallas Ungurian stopped 24 of 27 shots for the win, while Alexandre Quessy stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss.

Game 5 is Saturday night in Yarmouth at 7:30 p.m. A sixth game, if necessary, would be played Monday in New Glasgow.

The winner of this series advances to the league championship against either Miramichi or Woodstock to play for the Kent Cup.

The winner advances to the eastern Canadian Junior A championship Fred Page Cup, which the Pictou Crushers are hosting.

(Story from the New Glasgow Evening News, with files from the Yarmouth Vanguard)



PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NEW GLASGOW EVENING NEWS