MONCTON, N.B. – It was a busy opening day for P.E.I. teams at the Monctonian AAA Challenge hockey tournament on Thursday.
In major midget play, the Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride skated to a 1-1 tie with Western Kings, and the Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild gave up three unanswered goals in a 3-1 loss to the South Shore Mustangs.
Both the Wild and Pride play in the New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League.
P.E.I. Major Bantam AAA Hockey League teams got off to a slow start as the Prince County Warriors lost 5-1 to the ACA Rangers; the Central Attack dropped 5-4 and 3-1 decisions to the Western Hurricanes and Fredericton Blues; the Mid-Isle Matrix was blanked 5-0 by the Cole Harbour Storm, and the Eastern Express lost 3-2 to the Dartmouth Whalers.
Pride 1 Kings 1
Kennedy Gallant, assisted by Connor McGregor and Gage MacWilliams, netted the lone Pride goal.
Ben Parent was between the pipes for Charlottetown.
The Pride returns to action against the Cape Breton Tradesmen on Friday at 10:30 a.m.
Mustangs 3 Wild 1
Chase Gaudette opened the game’s scoring for the Wild, but the Mustangs struck for three unanswered goals.
Caleb Coyle tended goal for the Wild.
Kensington’s next game is against the East Coast Blizzard on Friday at 2 p.m.
Rangers 5 Warriors 1
Sam Hackett set up Liam Greenan with the lone goal for the Warriors.
Aiden Williams was between the pipes for Prince County.
Friday, the Warriors will take on the Northwest Bulls at 8:45 a.m., and the Antigonish Novas at 8:45 p.m.
Storm 5 Matrix 0
Josh Smith handled the goaltending duties for Mid-Isle.
The Matrix plays twice on Friday – against the Truro Bearcats at 1:30 p.m., and the Northern Blackhawks at 7:15 p.m.
Hurricanes 5 Attack 4
Four different players – Alex Graham (1-1), Matt McQuaid, Tanner MacLean and Niklas Reeves – dented the twine for the Attack.
Jack Howatt tended goal for the Attack.
Blues 3 Attack 1
Graham netted the lone Central goal, and AJ Cooper was in goal for the P.E.I. squad.
The Attack will play the Wear Well Bombers in their final round-robin game on Friday at 5:15 p.m.
Whalers 3 Express 2
Simon Hughes and Jack Campbell provided goals for the Express. Single helpers were credited to Seth MacLeod, Sam Parsons and Cole McKeighan.
Caleb Drake was Eastern’s goaltender.
The Express played the Gulls in a late game Thursday night, and close out round-robin play against the Saint John SeaDogs on Friday at 9 p.m.
