TRURO – The Truro Bearcats moved up a pair of spots this week in Canada’s junior A hockey rankings.
The Bearcats (26-7-0-4) were slotted eighth Monday morning as the Canadian Junior Hockey League released its weekly list. Truro was 10th last week.
The move up the rankings was helped by a pair of weekend wins which saw the Bearcats defeat the Dieppe Commandos (19-15-1-3) 6-3 Saturday after beating the Bridgewater Lumberjacks (7-32-0-2) 4-2 Friday. Truro was upended 4-1 Sunday by the Amherst Ramblers (24-9-3-2) to miss out on three wins in as many nights.
Truro is back in action Tuesday when it travels to Dartmouth to meet the Metro Shipbuilders (4-37-0-1) at 7 p.m. before making tracks to Amherst Wednesday for another 7 p.m. tilt.
The rankings are based on several factors, including the league in which the teams play, winning percentage, win-loss record, total points and goals for and against ratio.
The top three remain unchanged this week. The Summerside Western Capitals (34-6-2-0), who are hosting the Royal Bank Cup national championship this spring, sit third in the nation and are the top Maritime Junior Hockey League club on the list. The Brooks Bandits (43-2-2-0) of the Alberta Junior Hockey League have topped the rankings all season while the Minnesota Wilderness (39-3-0-1) of the Superior International Junior Hockey League lie second.
The Yarmouth Mariners (29-8-1-0) who are just three points ahead of the Bearcats for the EastLink Division lead, are ranked seventh in Canada, moving up from ninth a week ago.
