BEDFORD, N.S. — Two P.E.I. teams have advanced to the semifinals of the Chronicle Herald East Coast Ice Jam hockey tournament in Bedford, N.S.
The Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Knights, who are 4-0-1 (won-lost-tied), will take on the defending Atlantic champions Halifax Macs (5-0-0) in the Major Midget Division at 9 a.m. The other semifinal will feature the Saint John Vitos (5-0-0) meeting the Steele Subaru (4-0-1) from Dartmouth, N.S. The championship game is set for 2 p.m.
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.
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. Kensington did not qualify for the playoffs.
The Eastern Express (4-1-0) will carry P.E.I.’s hopes in the Major Bantam Division. The Express will face Sackville/East Hants (4-1-0) in one of two semifinals on Sunday at 9:15 a.m. The Wear Well Bombers (4-0-1) and Moncton (4-1-0) will meet in the other.
Saturday, the Pownal-based 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.
Three P.E.I. major bantam teams were eliminated on Saturday. In the Round of 16, the Prince County Warriors from O’Leary lost 4-3 to the ACCEL Hawks and the Crapaud-based Mid-Isle Matrix fell 6-2 to the Well Wear Bombers. The Central Attack from Charlottetown defeated the Valley Wildcats 5-4 in overtime in the Round of 16 before losing 8-7 to the Bombers in the quarter-finals.
Award Winners
P.E.I. award winners at East Coast Ice Jam:
Major Midget Division
Top goaltender – Jack Howatt, Charlottetown Knights.
First-team all-star forward – Cam MacLean, Charlottetown Knights.
Major Bantam Division
Top defenceman – Harry Clements, Eastern Express.
First-team all-star forward – Cam Squires, Central Attack.
Second-team all-star defence – Luke Coughlin, Central Attack.
Knights 5 Moose 4 (OT)
Landon MacDonald’s goal with 5:24 left in overtime sent the Knights into the semifinal.
Colby Huggan (1-2), who assisted on MacDonald’s game-winning goal, Max Chisholm (1-1), Simon Hughes (1-1) and Josh Lund also dented the twine for the Knights. Cam MacLean added two assists.
The Knights held period leads of 2-1 and 4-3.
Winning goaltender was Aiden Williams.
Knights 4 King’s-Edgehill 3
Huggan’s power-play goal with 6:12 left in the second period capped a three-goal rally in the middle frame for the Knights, who trailed 3-1 after the first period.
MacLean (1-1), Lund and Chisholm also scored while Jack Howatt picked up the goaltending victory. Huggan added two assists.
Express 3 Blues 2 (SO)
Ross Campbell and Jude Campbell, who netted the winning goal in the shootout, scored in regulation time for the Express.
The Express led 1-0 after the first period, the teams were tied 1-1 after the second and 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
Tanton Wooldridge was the winning goaltender.;
Express 11 Gulls 7
After the first period ended 4-4, the Express outscored the Gulls 6-1 in the middle frame to take a 10-5 advantage into the final frame.
Caleb MacDonald (3-4), Evan Nicholson (3-1), Harry Clements (1-2), Campbell (1-1), Mason Power (1-1), Cameron Walsh (1-1) and Keegan Arsenault provided Eastern’s goals. Ross Campbell contributed three assists.
Winning goaltender was Jackson MacDonald.
Attack 5 Wildcats 4 (OT)
Cam Squires (1-1) set up Brett Arsenault (1-1) with the game-winning goal 21 seconds into overtime.
Brennan Murphy (2) and Victor Steele also scored for the Attack.
The period scores were 1-1 and 3-1 in favour of the Attack.
Thomas MacAdam earned the goaltending win.
Bombers 8 Attack 7
Luke Coughlin (2-1), Arsenault (1-2), Landon Perry (1-2), Squires and Connor Pierce scored for the Attack. Nathan Mossey (3) and Victor Steele (2) had multiple-assist games.
The teams were tied 2-2 after the first and the Bombers led 4-3 at the end of two.
MacAdam tended goa for the Attack.
Bombers 6 Matrix 2
The Bombers built period leads of 2-0 and 4-1 en route to the victory.
Graysen LaPorte scored both goals for the Matrix and Carson MacDougall collected two assists.
Kale Hunter was between the pipes for Mid-Isle.
