TRURO, N.S. – The Truro Bearcats had to settle for a split in a pair of Maritime Junior Hockey League weekend outings at the RECC.
Friday the Bearcats just slipped by the league’s last-place team, the Valley Wildcats, 2-1 in overtime.
Saturday the Yarmouth Mariners, the league’s top club, came in and doubled the Bearcats 4-2.
After action Saturday, Truro remained third in the Eastlink South Division with 40 points, four less than Amherst Ramblers in second. They have a nine-point lead on fourth-place South Shore Lumberjacks.
Saturday, the Mariners and Bearcats exchanged goals in the opening frame. Carson Lanceleve tallied at 4:39 on the powerplay from Lauchie MacDonald and Damian Hartt to put Truro up 1-0. Yarmouth countered midway through the period with a marker by Logan Timmons.
Goals in the second by Matt Barron and Miguel Poirier staked the Mariners to a 3-1 lead but Shaun Bily pulled the Bearcats to within one again, scoring from Hartt.
Yarmouth added an insurance marker by Jonathan Rees in the third to round out the 4-2 final.
The Mariners outshot the Bearcats 31-27. Tyler Caseley took the win for Yarmouth while Alec MacDonald was in net for the Bearcats.
Wildcats 1
Bearcats 2 (OT)
Friday night at the RECC, the Bearcats barraged the Valley net, outshooting the Wildcats 46-21. In the opening frame alone, Truro held a 17-6 margin in shots, and enjoyed a man advantage for the better part of four straight minutes to end the period, yet it remained scoreless.
It was much the same in the second, but Jordan Etheridge managed the only goal from Robbie Dowell and Sam Henderson to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at 11:26.
The Bearcats finally found the scoresheet at 9:28 of the third, with Curtis Heffernan scoring a powerplay marker, from Dylan Burton and Bily.
Tied at one, the teams went to overtime where Karter Renouf scored his team-leading 14th of the season at 2:52 to settle it, with Caleb Hart assisting.
MacDonald picked up the win in net for the Bearcats stopping 20 of 21 shots.
Valley netminder Aaron Brunn was named the game’s first star, stopping 44 of 46 shots.
The Bearcats face a busy weekend coming up with three games in as many nights. Thursday they travel to Summerside to take on the north division-leading Western Capitals. Friday they entertain the Grand Falls Rapids and Saturday the South Shore Lumberjacks visit the RECC. All three games are 7 p.m. starts.
