The Acadia Golding team seemed to have the gold medal well within their grasp, heading into the third period of the Annapolis Valley Minor Hockey League playoff finals with a commanding 6-2 lead in Middleton on Sunday, March 8.
Jonathan Ettinger, co-president of the Clare-Digby Minor Hockey Association said it was one of those games where everything seemed to go against the Digby team.
“You could feel the excitement building for the Acadia team as the minutes ticked by in the third period,” Ettinger said. “But the momentum changed halfway through the period and in a span of 5 minutes Digby scored three unanswered goals.”
Ettinger said Digby tied it up at 6 apiece with one minute to go and the battle for the gold was on.
“Myles Titus who had been out sick for a few weeks and had seen little action on the ice put the puck in the net for Digby in overtime for the win and the gold medal,” said Ettinger.
MVP for this gold medal match was Ravens Ryan Gunn.
The Ravens finished the regular season with a 13-0-1 record to clinch first spot and Acadia Golding finished in second with a 9-4 record.
Sickness plagued the Clare Acadian Peewee C team for their bronze medal appearance against Acadia Troop at the Middleton rink on Sunday but they put in a very strong shorthanded performance.
Acadia Troop held a 2-0 first period lead but Clare scored five unanswered goals in the second and held on for a 7-5 win for the bronze medal.
Team manager Kim German said that even with a few players out sick the rest of the team came prepared to play their A game.
“The team played their hearts out and the coaches and I could not be prouder of their efforts,” German said. “We’ve had a standout goalie all year and we would not have been in this match without him.”
The Acadian goalie Rylie Muise was chosen as the MVP for the game.
Digby Ravens Bantam C won the bronze medal match 2-1 in a closely contested game against West Hants also in Middleton on Sunday.
Head coach Bruce McCullough said the Ravens finished first overall in their 10 team division after a very challenging and successful regular season in the AVMHL.
“Our team missed playing for gold in the March 8th Day of Champions due to a goal differential,” said McCullough. “But they won a hard fought battle with the team from West Hants for the bronze medal.”
McCullough said the coaches and parents were very proud of the effort that the Ravens exhibited during the season.
Alex Titus was chosen as MVP for the Ravens.
Digby Atom C were defeated 3-2 in the bronze medal game by Bridgetown with the MVP for Digby going to Daniel Jamieson.
Clare Acadians Midget C team won bronze as well against Berwick.
