BY JOHN DECOSTE
The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com
The Central Kings Gators will be the top seed at the NSSAF Division 2 boys’ hockey provincials after sweeping Barrington to win the Western Region championship.
Mike Best and T.J. Greenough each had hat tricks as Central Kings won the regional banner with a 6-2 win Wednesday evening, March 7, in Barrington.
The Gators won game one of the series 5-2 Sunday, March 4, in Berwick, with Riley Lewis scoring a pair of goals and Best, Sean McDougall and Pat Jordan netting single markers.
Meanwhile, the NKEC Titans punched their ticket to D-2 provincials March 23-25 in Barrington with a two-game sweep of Liverpool in a consolation series to determine the third Western Region representative at the tournament.
NKEC won the first game 4-1 in Liverpool March 7, with Nathan Coffill scoring the hat trick and Reggie Rand netting the other goal. Taylor Connolly scored the lone Liverpool goal.
The Titans then wrapped up the series Thursday, March 8, with a 3-1 win in Canning. Nick McQuade opened the scoring six minutes into the second period, and Coffill netted the eventual winner later in the period with NKEC playing shorthanded.
The teams traded goals in the final 20 minutes, with Luke McDougall scoring for NKEC on the power play and Tyler Roach spoiling Ian Brown’s shutout with seven minutes left.
In Division 1 action, the regional final between Horton and Kings-Edgehill was headed to a third and deciding game at press time after Horton eked out a 2-1 win March 8 on goals by Daniel Kenny and Zach Rhodenizer.
Kings-Edgehill won the opening game of the series 5-3 in Windsor. Game three was set for Sunday evening in Kentville.
The series winner advances directly to provincials Mar. 23-25 in the Northumberland region. The loser advances to play the second place team from Cape Breton with the winner of that series also advancing to provincials.
