The Cup comes home

The Yarmouth Mariners are the Maritime Junior A Hockey League champions after slamming the door on the Woodstock Slammers during Game 6 of the finals Thursday night in Woodstock.

With their 3-1 win, Yarmouth brings home the Kent Cup and advances to the Fred Page Cup eastern Canadian junior A championship being held in Pictou County next week.

Justin Saulnier had two Mariners goals Thursday – he opened the scoring in period one and sealed the deal with an empty netter with just a minute and a half to go in the third. Sandwiched in between was the Mariners’ go ahead goal scored by Cody Lefrancois almost midway through the third to break a 1-1 tie.

Dallas Ungurian blocked 22 of 23 Woodstock shots, while the Mariners made 34 shots during the game on Woodstock’s Ben MacFarlene.

Ryan Penney, the leading scorer in the playoffs, was named playoff MVP.

Yarmouth wins the series four games to two and while Mariners fans would have preferred to see their hometown favourites win the league championship on home ice, they also did not want to see the series go to a deciding winner-take-all Game 7.

The Fred Page Cup opens next Wednesday in Pictou. Besides the Mariners and host team Crushers, the tournament will include the Central Jr. A champs Pembroke Lumberkings and the winner of the Quebec Jr. A final between Sherbrooke and Joliette. Sherbrooke leads that series 3-2.