BY JOHN DECOSTE
[email protected]
NovaNewsNow.com
The Horton Griffins and NKEC Titans fell short of their goal of a provincial boys’ high school hockey banner at NSSAF provincials March 28-30.
Western Region runner-up Horton competed at the D-1 boys’ provincials in Yarmouth. The Griffins finished 0-3 at what head coach Mark Hanneman described as “a very competitive tournament.
“There’s no way to ‘sugar coat’ an 0-3 record,” Hanneman said. He noted, however, that “the tournament organizer, several coaches and the three on-ice officials all indicated that Horton was the hardest-working and classiest team they had seen at the tournament.”
The Griffins opened against Dr. J.H. Gillis and lost a 2-1 decision. Despite playing their best hockey of the game in the third period, Horton was unable to tie the score. Sean Croft had the only goal for the Griffins.
Horton took on Glace Bay and again lost by a 2-1 score, this time in double overtime. Bobby Selby had the lone Horton goal.
With the Griffins at 0-2 and out of playoff contention, their final round robin game against C.P. Allen was “a meaningless affair,” Hanneman said.
The Horton players “represented themselves well under the circumstances,” but again ended up on the short end of the score.
Jason Boutilier and Matt Jenner shared the goaltending duties and saw a lot of pucks aimed their way in a 7-1 loss that turned out to be “more of a scrimmage than a game.”
Jordan Davidson had Horton’s only goal on a nice individual effort.
Rematch of the Western Region final
Meanwhile, NKEC was after a second consecutive provincial title at the D-2 boys’ provincials hosted by Richmond Academy in Cape Breton.
The Western Region champion Titans received a bye into the second round of the six-team tournament, only to lose their first game 2-1 to Eastern Shore.
NKEC got back on the winning track with a 7-2 win over host Richmond to finish second in their pool behind Eastern Shore, which won both its opening-round games.
This moved NKEC to a meeting with Barrington in the crossovers in a rematch of the Western Region final.
This time, Barrington, which lost to NKEC in the 2007 provincial final, turned the tables on the Titans with a 3-1 win, eliminating NKEC from further competition. Barrington went on to edge Eastern Shore 4-3 in overtime to capture the provincial banner.
Middleton also competed in the tournament and finished third in their pool with a 1-1 record, losing 4-2 to Barrington and defeating Dalbrae 3-1.
