SPRINGHILL - Down 3-0 in their best-of-seven Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League series, the Cumberland County Blues need to win their next four games against the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates if they don't want their 2011-2012 season to come to an end.
"It's a tough hill to climb. People don't come back from 3-0 deficits everyday but you can't go into the game thinking you're down 3-0," said Blues coach Dave Hyatt. "You have to take it one game at a time, one period at a time and one shift at a time, and be successful from shift to shift."
The Blues lost the first two playoff games in Port Hawkesbury by scores of 4-3 and 7-0, and then lost 6-3 Wednesday night in Springhill. Tonight they play Game 4 in Springhill.
"I thought our penalty kill was better Wednesday night and we played well for stretches but we had a lapse for about five minutes where they scored three goals," said Hyatt. "We lost focus for five minutes and lost the hockey game, but I was pretty pleased with how we played the other 55 minutes.
"If we find a way to be consistent and play the right way for a full 60 minutes we'll have a chance to win," he added. "Getting a full 60 minutes of focused hockey has been a real issue for us."
Goaltending is a game-time decision.
The puck drops tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Richard Calder Arena in Springhill.
- 2011-2012 NSJHL playoff point leaders:
The top-ten point leaders in the NSJHL playoff include four Strait Pirates in the top five and two Blues players, Jordie Shaw and Josh Coleman, in the bottom five, with one former Blue, Amherst's Jesse Colborne, rounding out the top-ten for the St. Margaret's Bay Ducks.
If the Blues win tonight they will travel to Port Hawkesbury for game five Sunday at 7 p.m.
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
