BEDFORD, N.S. — The Eastern Express is the last P.E.I. team standing at the 2020 Chronicle Herald East Coast Ice Jam hockey tournament in Bedford, N.S.
The Express became the first-ever P.E.I. bantam team to advance to the tournament's championship game. They will be opposed by the defending-champion Moncton Hawks on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. The game, which will be played in Rink C, can be viewed at http://player.communitylive.ca/Player/Player/37.
The Express, who play out of the Pownal Sports Centre, edged the Sackville/East Hants Rangers 3-2 in a semifinal game Sunday morning.
Eastern, after losing its opening game 7-2 to The Novas on Wednesday, entered the championship game having won five straight games
Saturday, the Express outscored the Gulls 11-7 in the Round of 16 and got by the Fredericton Blues 3-2 in overtime in the quarter-finals.
Knights eliminated
Also Sunday morning, the Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Knights saw their run in the Major Midget Division end in the semifinals with a 9-1 loss to the defending Atlantic champions, Halifax Macs. The Macs met Steele Subaru from Dartmouth, N.S., in the final.
Saturday, the Knights edged King’s-Edgehill 4-3 in the Round of 16 and then pulled out a 5-4 overtime win over the Northern Moose in the quarter-finals.
Overall, the Knights completed play 4-1-1 (won-lost-tied).
P.E.I.’s other major midget team, Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild, lost 4-3 to the South Shore Lumberjacks on Friday evening to finish 0-2-0-1 (won-lost-tied-overtime losses). Kensington did not qualify for the playoffs.
Express 3 Rangers 2
Caleb MacDonald’s power-play goal with 13:04 remaining in the second period gave the Express a 3-0 lead and it held up as the game-winner. Harry Clements (1-1) and Evan Nicholson also scored for the Express, who held period leads of 2-0 and 3-2.
Tanton Wooldridge earned the goaltending win.
Macs 9 Knights 1
The Macs took control early and led 5-0 after the first and second periods.
Gabe Hartlen netted the Knights’ lone goal.
