DIGBY, N.S. – There was a lot of net action Saturday when the Shelburne Flames visited the Digby Arena to take on the Clare-Digby Peewee A team, but unfortunately for Clare-Digby most of the action was delivered by Shelburne in the 8-2 loss.
Although Clare-Digby drew the first blood in the first period, when Brady Gavel scored, assisted by Logan Comeau, however Clare-Digby soon found themselves back on their heels as Shelburne answered with four goals in the first.
Clare-Digby’s Austin Walker, assisted by Brady Gavel, was able to tuck one more goal behind Shelburne netminder, Jacob Atwood, with 21 seconds left on the clock in the first. While the team tried to rally several times in the second and third periods, Clare-Digby was dominated by a Shelburne team that outskated and outscored them during most of the game.
The last time the two teams met, the outcome was almost completely reversed, with Clare-Digby up 6-2 over Shelburne, so Clare-Digby Head Coach Renel Deveau said he’d sort of expected Shelburne to roar back after that defeat.
“We had a good first period, but after that we just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Deveau said, saying Saturday’s showing was probably their worst of the season.
When asked if the team was likely distracted by the holiday season, Deveau laughed.
“Yeah, we’re blaming this one on Santa.”
The win moves Shelburne out of its tied position with Clare-Digby to lead the West Nova Minor Hockey League with a record of 15-7-2 for the season. Shelburne Head Coach Andrew Holland was pleased with his team’s result.
“We had a good day today.”
Flames captain Jessica MacKinnon racked up a pair of goals and two assists and Chase Perry also aced a pair between the posts. The other four goals for Shelburne in the game were scored by Kale Johnson, Lucas Nickerson, Cohen Nickerson and Dakota Ryer had the winning goal at 2:54 in the third period against beleaguered Clare-Digby goalie Keygan Smith. Brody Goreham had three assists in the game, while Lucas R. Nickerson, Cohen Nickerson had two, and Dylan Hatfield, Colin Sears, Ty Kelley and Dakota Albert all had one.
