Valley Maple Leafs have mixed-bag week with two wins, one loss

LIVERPOOL, N.S. — The scoreboard read 5-2 for Liverpool Jan. 13, marking the first time the Privateers have pulled off a win over the Valley Maple Leafs in the 2017-18 season.

Taylor Brown opened the game’s scoring for the Leafs on a power-play but the Privateers shot back with three consecutive goals, two of them only a minute apart, late in the first period.

Ethan Rendell-Watson brought the Leafs back to within a goal at 3-2 before the Privateers scored two more in the second to take a 5-2 lead.

It proved to be the final scoring of the game as neither club could get on the scoreboard in the third period.

Liverpool outshot the Leafs 36-32 and moved back to within three points of the Leafs in the race for third place in the Fred Fox Division.

The Valley Maple Leafs and Liverpool Privateers are scheduled to play their fourth game of the season in Windsor at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2018.

The Leafs defeated Liverpool Oct. 27 in Windsor by a score of 7-3, again on Nov. 17 with the same score, and on Jan. 10 by a score of 5-3.

Earlier Valley Maple Leafs play

The Valley squad managed a 7-2 victory over the Brookfield Elks on Jan. 12.

Throughout the opening 10 minutes of the game, the Leafs were closely checked and had virtually no chances. With nine minutes to go in the opening period, Sean Anderson made a rush down the left side of the Elks net and missed an open net on the left side before wheeling around and shoving it home low on the right side.

The Leafs were then robbed blind by Elks goaltender Landon Campbell before the Elks’ Riley Scott was stopped stone cold all alone in front of the Leafs net by Christopher Clokie.

Seconds later, when action began to pick up, Campbell stopped Nathan Clarke in front of the Elks net.

Before the first period ended, the Leafs' Patrick Halpin had a wide-open corner at the Elks net but his shot from the point went wide, missing the open corner.

The teams were tied in shots at 9-9 after 20 minutes but the Leafs led 1-0.

In the second period, Isaac Bridge took a sharp shot and Campbell was up for the challenge to keep the score at 1-0.

Then the Leafs missed two more great chances before Cody Burghardt put the Leafs up 2-0.

Alex McGaw then missed in close for the Leafs before the floodgates opened for the Valley.

Bridge notched his 18th goal of the season to give the Leafs a 3-0 lead.

Bridge then tallied his 19th on a scramble in front of the Elks net with 3:08 to play in the second before Nathan Clarke made it 5-0 with 2:46 to go in the middle period.

Clokie kept his shutout alive with a great save on a bullet drive from the point with 29 seconds to play in the second period.

The teams were tied in shots again at 13-13 for the second and 22-22 over two periods.

The teams exchanged four goals in the third period. The two by the Leafs were scored by Clarke, with his second of the game, and Rendell-Watson.

The Elks outshot the Leafs 10-9 in the third period for a 32-31 game advantage.

And finally, it was a wild Wednesday night in Liverpool as the Privateers and Valley Maple Leafs kept fans waiting to the bitter end.

The Leafs eventually pulled off the Jan. 10 win, with a score of 5-3, thanks to Stuart Kennie’s second goal of the game with 1:13 left in the third period to put the Leafs up 4-3.

Kennie’s goal came only 1:11 after Liverpool had tied the game at 3-3 on a short-handed effort.

It marked the second short-handed goal in a row for the Privateers as they had scored with just 3:18 left in regulation.

Bridge opened and closed the scoring in the third period for the Leafs.

Bridge’s second goal was the Leafs' fifth and final of the game with just 42 seconds remaining.

The only other Leaf goal came off the stick of Rendell-Watson, with only 37 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Liverpool outshot the Leafs every period for a game advantage of 49-33, which required strong goaltending from Leafs' net minder Brett Davies, who blocked 46 of the 49 shots he faced for a .939 save percentage.

Upcoming games

You can catch the Leafs in action on Jan. 19 when they host the Privateers at 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 21 at 5 p.m. when they host the East Hants Penguins; Jan. 26 in East Hants for a 7:30 p.m. start; Jan. 29 when they travel to Sackville to take on the Blazers at 7:30 p.m.; and Feb. 2 when the Blazers return to the Hants Exhibition Arena for a 7:30 p.m. game.