O’LEARY – The O’Leary Évangeline-Central Credit Union Maroons will take a 1-0 lead into Game 2 of the West Prince Senior Hockey League’s championship series against the Alberton Elmsdale Corner Gas Regals.
The opening faceoff at the O’Leary Community Sports Centre on Saturday is 8 p.m.
The Maroons, who downed the Regals 6-2 before a large crowd at the Jacques Cartier Arena in Alberton on Wednesday, are looking to repeat as league champions after squeaking into the playoffs in the dying seconds of the regular season.
They had been idle for a week when the Tignish Aces and Tyne Valley Tornadoes clashed in the final game of the regular season. A Tornadoes’ win would have eliminated the Maroons from playoff contention, but a late Aces’ goal gave the Maroons a berth and sidelined the first-year Tyne Valley squad.
The Maroons went on to knock off the regular-season champions, the Wellington Flyers, and the Regals defeated the Aces in their respective semifinal series. Both best-of-five match-ups were determined in four games.
In the opener of the championship series, Jeff MacIsaac gave the Maroons a 1-0 lead in the final second of the first period, and his brother, Mike, put them up 2-0 nine seconds into the second period.
Alberton fought back to tie the game 2-2, but Jeff MacIsaac scored what would stand up as the game-winner with a minute and 51 seconds remaining in the second. He’d complete the hat trick in the third.
