AMHERST – Jordan Cox’s second period goal stood as the winner as the Truro Bearcats defeated the Amherst Ramblers 3-2 in Maritime Junior Hockey League exhibition action at the stadium on Saturday.
Ryan Moore and Brandon Pye added assists on the power play marker that came 4:41 into the middle period.
“I thought we played well, the boys worked hard,” Ramblers’ coach Jim Bottomley said. “I thought we outplayed them for most of the game and we had some good scoring opportunities.”
Phil Fife opened the scoring 3:40 into the firdst period before Josh Pugsley scored just over four minutes later with Kody Orr and Ryan Caswell adding assists.
After Paul Thompson restored Truro’s lead on a shot from the slot, Maxime Richard tied the game on the power play with less than five minutes to play in the opening period with Ben MacDonald and Ben Berisha adding assists.
There was no scoring in the third period, although the Ramblers came close to tying the game on several occasions, but were foiled by a couple of goalposts.
“The guys played hard until the end. There are a few things we need to work on, but we matched up pretty good against them. We just didn’t get a few bounces,” Bottomley said.
“We’re just about ready for the start of the season. We’re happy with what we got and we’ll keep improving as the season goes on,” Bottomley said. “We’re a young team that’s going to work hard. We’ll be OK.”
Marc Theriault got the start in goal for Amherst with Chase Marchand finishing.
Amherst outshot the Bearcats 32-26 with Shane Campbell earning the win in goal for Truro.
The two teams play again Sunday in Truro.
The loss may have been costly for the Ramblers as both Pugsley and Serge Boisvert suffered injuries. It’s unknown what their status is for Sunday.
Amherst opens the regular season on Thursday in New Glasgow against the Weeks Crushers while the home opener is Saturday against Woodstock.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
