Wreaking havoc at the Glace Bay net, Lincoln MacDonald gives his best ‘C’mon ref’ look after Nole Romard was flattened with a crosscheck as the U11 AA Islanders top line, including Brayden Nicholson in the crease, combined for nine points in Sunday’s 7-4 win.
February 1, 2023
-by Bill Dunphy
First place in the Scotia Minor Hockey League U11 AA Northern Conference was on the line Sunday when the Glace Bay Miners took on the Cape Breton West Islanders in Port Hood on Sunday.
When the ice chips settled, the Islanders proved to be too much for the Miners to handle.
The 11-4-1 Islanders led 2-1 and 5-2 by periods on the way to a 7-4 win over the 10-4-1 Miners.
A powerplay goal by Nole Romard got things going for the Islanders at 6:33 of the first, assisted by Lincoln MacDonald and Eli LeBlanc.
Romard made it 2-0 four minutes later with a diving play at the net to finish a passing play that began with a pass by goaltender Ryan Campbell to Luke Calder.
Up 2-1 in the second, MacDonald scored on a nifty backhander while driving through the crease, assisted by Brogan Fitzgerald.
Romard scored again on the powerplay with Ashton Hawley and Brayden Nicholson, then scored his fourth of the game, which proved to be the winning goal, three minutes later, assisted by MacDonald and Nicholson.
The Miners got one back before the end of the period to trail 5-2 and both teams exchanged a pair of goals in the third period.
Rossi MacKinnon scored on an end-to-end rush, started on a pass from Danny MacDonald. And Ryder MacLean closed out the scoring with an empty-netter at 13:59 on a play with Alex Dan MacDonnell.
The day before in Inverness, the Islanders skated to a 6-2 win over the Cape Breton County Islanders.
Six different players contributed to the scoring, including: Nole Romard, Lincoln MacDonald, Alex Dan MacDonnell, Ethan LeBlanc, Brayden Nicholson, and Rossi MacKinnon.
Rylan LeBlanc was in goal for the win.
Islanders coach Frankie MacKinnon said the team has a tendency to play to the potential of their opponents, which allowed the Miners to keep it close on Sunday.
“We forecheck strong and backcheck strong, and when we do that consistently we’re hard to beat. Glace Bay got a couple of bounces that led to two-on-ones, but 75 per cent of the game was played in their end,” he said.
MacKinnon, who has one of the top lines in the league with Romard, MacDonald, and Nicholson, said the team’s depth is equally good.
“We went five games without our top line scoring so we have depth in our second and third lines. There are teams that can’t skate with our third line which is fast and hungry.”
The Islanders have just four games left in the regular season but take a break from league play this weekend as they head to Charlottetown for the 45th Annual Spud tournament.
