QUINTE WEST, ONT. - MHL Team Eastlink finished out play at the 2017 Eastern Canada Cup Challenge in Quinte West, Ont., with a 3-2 shootout loss to OJHL Nieuwendyk.
The eastern teams finishes the tournament with a win, two losses and the one shootout loss for four points, finishing fourth in their five-team group. The top two teams in each group moved on.
After a scoreless first period of the two-frame contest, OJHL Nieuwendyk jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the second on goals by Andrew Petrucci and Davis Teigen-Katsumi
The MHL squad came back though, as Truro’s Dylan Burton scored from Logan Johnston with just under five minutes remaining.
Jordan King of the Amherst Ramblers scored the equalizer from Johnston and Kyle Ward at 18:25.
In the shootout, Burton was the only MHL player to score while the OJHL squad sewed it up with goals on their third and fifth tries.
Edmundston Blizzard netminder Francis Asselin stopped 12 of 14 shots on net for MHL.
In a late game Tuesday, Team MHL waged a see-saw battle with OJHLTeam Oates, with the Ontario team prevailing 4-2. King opened the scoring in the contest, finding the back of the net at the 7:23 mark of the first. After two Ontario goals the MHL would once again knot the game on a tally by the Bearcats’ Burton at 8:04.
The eventual game winner came off the stick of Spencer Kersten (Oakville Blades) at the 11:33 mark while Mason Snell (Wellington Dukes) rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter with 46 seconds remaining.
Asselin stopped 13 shots in the loss.
The Truro Bearcats return to regular season action Friday when they host the South Shore Lumberjacks in a 7 p.m. game at the RECC.
