SPRINGHILL – The Cumberland County Blues went a long way towards silencing the doubters over the weekend when they beat two of the top teams in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League.
The Blues entered the weekend in last place in the NSJHL but managed to beat the Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates on Friday at home, and then beat the Glace Bay Jr. Miners Saturday in Cape Breton.
Blues coach Robert McLure said the two wins were the result of the players believing in each other.
“They now see the results when everyone gives it their all, and we play a full 60 minutes of hockey,” said McLure.
In their game against the Miners, Glace Bay went up 1-0 in the first period at the Bay Plex Recreation Centre on Saturday, when Zach Black tied it up 1-1 before the period ended. Assisting on the Black goal was Jesse Colborne and Liam Carr.
The Blues went up 2-1 mid-way through the second period, and then the Miners tied it up 2-2.
The Blues then scored two quick goals, giving themselves a 4-2 lead by the end of the second.
Paul Gulliver and Geoff Burke scored the Blues goals, with Tyler Gould assisting on the Gulliver goal, and Devon Muir and Carr assisting on the Burke goal.
Glace Bay scored the only two goals in the third period and the game went into overtime with the game tied 4-4.
Nobody scored in the overtime and the Blues won in a shootout.
The teams went through 10 penalty shots before the Mike McLure scored the winner for the Blues.
Blues goaltender Mathieu Caron stopped 44 of 48 shots in game, nine of which were in the overtime frame, while his teammates had 25 shots on the Miners net.
On Friday at home the Blues beat the Pirates 2-1.
Colborne opened the scoring with 11:09 left in the first period off and assist from Gould.
The Pirates tied the game early in the second, but the Blues went up 2-1 when Colborne scored his second of the night on an unassisted goal with 14:23 left to play in the second.
Nobody else scored for the rest of the game and the Blues won 2-1.
Blues goaltender Jesse Cox stopped 27 of 28 shots, while the Blues had 20 shots at Pirates goaltender Matt Schlotzhauer.
The Blues host the Miners on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and then travel to Antigonish on Sunday to face off against the Bulldogs. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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