2024-03-13

Jr. Lumberjacks win game seven, overcoming 3-0 series deficit

BRIDGEWATER - The Jr. B Lumberjacks axed the Penguins in game seven Tuesday night at home in front of a packed house.

The Lumberjacks won four games straight, overcoming a 3-0 series deficit, a feat that hasn't been seen in Junior B playoff hockey since the 2000-01 Windsor Royals who rallied to defeat the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates and from there, moved on to win the Atlantic Junior Hockey Championship.

The Lumberjacks now move on to the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Fred Fox division finals against the Capstone Colts. Although the schedule isn't finalized as of yet, the series will likely start on Friday, according to team owner, Jim Bottomley.

Following the game seven victory, Head Coach Ryan Falkenham said he felt, "Amazing. I'm proud of the guys in there. I've only seen that once before where a team was down 3-0 and came back to win. It just shows what kind of players we have, what kind of men we have on this team.

After a relatively quiet first and second period, the score was 1-0 for the Penguins.

"I think in the second period, we stepped up our game and we had chances. We knew that and we didn't want to change anything in the third," said Falkenham.

Team captain, Daniel Kline, added, "The first period I found everyone was gripping their sticks tight. It is a game seven and everyone's pressured, even though we've battled on a game seven basis, pretty much since game three.

"We talked with the boys and we really dialled it in. We said you know what, it's the last period. It's do or die for us, just like the last four games, so really just pull it in. Get the pucks to the net and keep going. Then when the first goal went in an d we kind of broke the seal on the goalie, we kind of loosened up a bit and kept battling."

The mood in the building changed, from what had been a tense crowd, when Ethan MacVicar scored at the 10:55 mark of the period which sent everyone into a frenzy.

Alec Howie kept the mood high, scoring the game winner, an unassisted tally at the 8:48 mark, after splitting the Penguins' defence and poking the puck into the net.

Howie scored his second of the night, an empty-netter with just 15 seconds remaining.

Lumberjacks' goaltender Keegan Greencorn stopped 24 of 25 shots to pick up the win, while the Marcus Pettipas stopped 33 of 35 shots in the Penguins net.

Following the game Kline commented that "it feels amazing," to pull out the win. "We have a great group of guys here."

This is just the first season for the Junior B club to call Bridgewater home, after moving from Liverpool. Owner Jim Bottomley said, after Tuesday's game. "We said at the beginning of the year, we would try and bring a winning hockey club here. This is just a start. I'm really proud of the team."

To get to the seventh game, the Lumberjacks defeated the Penguins 4-1 in game six of the series March 11 in Lantz.

In that game, the Penguins started off the scoring in the first, but it was all Lumberjacks after that, with Joe Osborne scoring two, followed by singles from Howie and Daniel Kline.

Greencorn stopped 33 of 34 shots in the win.

The Lumberjacks will now prepare to take on the Capstone Colts who finished first in the Fred Fox division, just one point ahead of the Lumberjacks during the regular season.

The teams earned two wins each on home ice, with the Lumberjacks winning 4-3 Feb. 25 and 2-1 Nov. 26. The Colts won 4-2 Jan. 26 and 3-2 Oct. 27.

Top scorer for the Lumberjacks for these regular season games was Kline, who scored in each of the four games.

Quickly looking ahead. "It's a fresh series. New team. I think we want to build off this series and I think the biggest thing from this is that we need to be ready to go from game one and make sure we start off good in every game," said Falkenham.

The Colts had defeated the Sackville Blazers in five games.

In the Sid Rowe division semifinals, the Membertou Jr. Minders defeated the Strait Pirates four games to none, while the Antigonish Bulldogs defeated the Pictou County Scotians four games to one. Their division finals begins Friday in Antigonish.