Clare wins the Jr C West

Jonathan Riley

DIGBY COURIER

NovaNewsNow.com

The Clare Lions took the Junior C West championship with a loud and clear 9-3 win over Barrington last night.

So far the Lions are undefeated in the playoffs, having swept Barrington in three games (7-1, 10-4, 9-3) just like earlier they swept the Yarmouth Admirals (8-2, 7-0, 6-2).

“Who ever we play next, it will be a great series,” said the Lions general manager Francis Robichaud. “The games are going to be a lot tighter and the scores are going to be a lot closer.”

The score doesn’t show it but Friday night’s game in Clare before a sellout crowd was a barnburner from the get go with both teams hitting the ice on fire.

Barrington had the best chances of the opening minutes, launching a half dozen weighty wake up calls at Alain Savoie.

Savoie was rock steady throughout the match, showing the confidence that made him the league’s best goalie last year.

The momentum finally swung to Clare while they were killing off a penalty eight minutes into the game.

Assistant captain Shawn Bernard broke out of the Clare end and threatened to score just eight seconds before assistant captain Ryan Gallant broke in alone down the right wing, cut in front and followed through on Bernard’s threat.

Gallant continued to harass the Ice Dogs with two huge point-blank slap shots from the slot and another breakaway that had Barrington’s Darrell Dixon sprawling.

Just as Barrington seemed ready to pressure the Lions, Bernard, standing strong in the slot, lifted an easy one past Dixon. 2-0 Clare at the end of the first.

Colby Nickerson put Barrington on the scoreboard early in the second but Clare stuck patiently to their game plan.

Alexandre Poirier had the whole cage for a target when he caught Dixon out of position at 10:17 and a minute later a sliding Bernard the puck from his knees to set up Mario Blinn. 4-1 Lions.

Josh Merrick took Dixon’s place after the 9:05 goal.

With only 50 seconds to go in the second, James Swaine gave Barrington a boost, slapping the puck from his knees past a surprised Savoie. 4-2 after two.

Barrington managed one more goal in the third but otherwise completely lost their focus.

The referees had their hands full late in the third as Clare continued to score almost at will and the Barrington players grew increasingly frustrated.

The ref assessed 52 minutes of penalties in just the last six minutes of the game.

8-3 wasn’t good enough; Rejean Deveau made it 9-3 with only five seconds to go.

Clare’s sweep of Barrington marks the end of an era – Barrington had won the Nova Scotia Junior Championship the last three years, with three tries and one win at the Atlantic Championship final.

The Lions haven’t lost this year since mid-January. They were riding a 10-game winning streak through the Valley Keith’s Junior C Tournament when they ran smack into the Halifax Thunder. Halifax stopped them 6-3 in round robin and then 3-2 in the final. Still wobbling from that upset they were surprised 5-4 by the Admirals in Yarmouth on Jan. 19 but haven’t lost since.

Clare general manager Francis Robichaud welcomes the extra rest while they wait for the Central division to be decided – besides the regular wear and tear of a 24-game season, four Clare skaters, including captain Marc Deveau, missed Friday’s game with the flu.

Whoever Clare meets in the league championship will be dangerous.

The league’s number one team in regular action, the New Waterford Jets, were appearing completely undone and down for the count last weekend – after losing 8-6 at home to Halifax in the first game of the series, they collapsed 8-0 in the second game also in Cape Breton.

The Jets figured something out last night and managed to steal a 6-5 OT win on the road. Game Five is tonight in Halifax and Game Six if necessary is in Cape Breton on Sunday night.

jriley@digbycourier.ca