Mustangs Earn Weekend Split

The South Shore Canadian Tire Mustangs went 1-1 this past weekend in Cape Breton.

On Saturday night the Cape Breton Tradesmen soundly defeated the Mustangs 5-1 behind 3 powerplay goals and a 4 pt effort from the NSMMHL leading scorer Kyle Farrell.  Farrell scored once and set up 3 others.  Riley Strowbridge (Peterson) was the lone goal scorer for the Mustangs.  Cole Skinner stopped 29 shots in the loss while Scott MacDonald stopped 14 in the loss.

On Sunday the Mustangs travelled to Port Hood determined to earn a weekend split.  A much better effort resulted in a 4-2 victory for the Mustangs.  Scoring for the Mustangs was Tyler Quinlan (McEachern, Challoner) and Brandon Verge (Harnish) in the first period to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead after 1 period.  The line of McEachern, Challoner, Quinlan was dangerous all game constantly hemming the Islanders in with a great cycle.

In the second period the Mustangs dominated territorially and were rewarded late when Jamie Blair (game winner) stripped a Cape Breton West player of the puck below the goal line and scored on a wrap around attempt to send the Mustangs into the 2^nd intermission up 3-1.

In the third period the Mustangs found the back of the net on a powerplay goal by Brennan Bailey (Verge, Patterson) to go ahead 4-1.  Pattersons assist complimented a very solid game by the first year defender.  Jesse MacInnis scored his second powerplay goal of the game with 4:35 remaining to close the score to 4-2 but that was as close as the Islanders would get.

“Our battle level and puck pursuit was much better Sunday than the previous night.  We were getting to all the loose pucks first and moving our feet, and the game is much easier to play when you have the puck on your stick rather than chasing it down for the majority of the game as we did the night before.” Commented coach Boyce.

Billy Clarke recorded the win making 25 saves while Shawn Jeffrey was strong in making 41 saves in a losing effort.

The Mustangs are back in action this Saturday at 8:00pm (Bridgewater Memorial Arena) when they take on the Pictou Weeks Major Midgets.  The Pictou squad is currently tied for first place in the NSMMHL with the Dartmouth Ice Dawgs.

Go Mustangs!