ST. STEPHEN, N.B. – Dominik Tmej has found his groove!
The Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals goaltender recorded his second consecutive shutout on Saturday night – a 25-save effort – in a 6-0 road win over the St. Stephen Aces in the MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League). That performance followed a 59-save showing in a 3-0 win over the visiting Campbellton Tigers on Dec. 8.
Tmej, who has an 11-2-0 (won-lost-overtime losses) record and has a shutout streak of 150 minutes and four seconds, sports a goals-against average of 2.28 and a save percentage of .935. Tmej is tied with the Pictou County Crushers’ Matthew Normore for the league lead in shutouts.
The win improved the Eastlink North Division-leading Caps’ record to 19-4-0, and moved two points closer to the Yarmouth Mariners (23-5-1) in the overall standings. Yarmouth, which lost 8-5 to the Edmundston Blizzard on Saturday night, will take a nine-point lead over Summerside into Sunday’s game against the Grand Falls Rapids. The Caps, however, will hold seven games-in-hand after Sunday’s contest.
Offensive leaders
Before 610 fans at the Garcelon Civic Centre, Brodie MacArthur scored twice while Kayden Peck added a goal and an assist to pace the Caps offensively. Zach Thususka, Cam Roberts and Brodie MacMillan contributed single tallies while other assists went to Kallum Muirhead (2), TJ Shea, Sam Meisenheimer, Josh MacDonald and Calum MacPherson.
The Caps built period leads of 1-0 and 2-0, before scoring four times in the final 11 minutes to put the game out of reach.
The Capitals directed 34 shots, including 15 in the final 20 minutes, at Aces goaltender Shawn Wiranata.
The game’s three stars were:
1. Brodie MacArthur (Caps), Kayden Peck (Caps), 3. Nick French (Aces).
The Caps continue a stretch of four straight road games on Friday against Grand Falls (6-14-4), and Edmundston (13-9-3) on Saturday. The Caps resume their post-Christmas schedule at the Valley Wildcats (5-19-3) on Dec. 29, before hosting Valley on New Year’s Eve at Eastlink Arena in a 5 p.m. start.
