The Yarmouth Mariners have slipped back into second place in the Eastlink Division behind the Truro Bearcats following two losses to Truro over the past weekend, with a win over the Bridgewater Lumberjacks sandwiched in between.
With 75 points to Truro’s 77 points, the Mariners have just two games left to play this week before the MHL’s regular season ends prior to playoffs – Tuesday evening against Bridgewater on the road and Friday evening against Pictou at home.
Truro has two games left to play as well, against Metro on Tuesday and Woodstock on Friday.
On Friday night, March 1 in Yarmouth, Truro defeated Yarmouth 6-1. Scoring Yarmouth’s only goal was Josh Desmond (Cody Castro, Brandon Bussey) on the powerplay at 12:45 in the first period.
Truro went 2 for 5 on the powerplay while Yarmouth went 1 for 4.
Shayne Campbell stopped 32 of 33 shots for the win while Travis Wilkins (21:26) stopped 7 of 10 shots in the loss before being replaced by Chase Gaudet. Gaudet (38:34) stopped 30 of 33 shots the rest of the way.
At home on Saturday, March 2, the Mariners doubled the Lumberjacks 4-2. Kyle Campbell and Colin Campbell led the Mariners with 1 goal and 1 assist each.
Brendan Nickerson opened the scoring at 11:45 to give the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead after the first period. Michael Crawley scored at 10:24 to extend the lead to 2-0. Kyle Campbell (Rodney Mahoney, Brandon Bussey) scored at 13:10 to get the Mariners on the scoreboard at 2-1. Colin Campbell (Zack Henry, Braden Mercier) scored at 16:06 to tie the game at 2-2 after the second period.
Connor Rogers (Colin Campbell, Henry) scored at 16:12 to regain the lead for North River at 3-2. Ben MacSwain (Kyle Campbell, Bussey) rounded out the scoring at 18:34.
Yarmouth went 0 for 5 on the powerplay while Bridgewater went 0 for 4. Chase Gaudet stopped 20 of 22 shots for the win while Billy Clarke stopped 41 of 45 shots in the loss.
On Sunday, March 3, the Mariners lost to Truro 5-4 in a shootout.
Scoring for Yarmouth were Kyle Campbell (Josh Desmond) in the first period. Colin Campbell (Mercier, Rogers) in the second, and Ben MacSwain (Castro) and Castro (Mahoney, MacSwain) on the powerplay at 15:41 in the third to even the score.
Scoring for Truro in the shootout was Kyle Morrison.
Yarmouth had 31 shots on net and Truro had 35. Travis Wilkins was in net for the Mariners stopping 31 shots and Shayne Campbell was in net for the Bearcats stopping 27 shots.
