By Darrell Cole
Amherst Daily News
AMHERST - The Amherst Ramblers created a traffic jam in front of Truro Bearcats' goalie Spencer Scott all night and it lead to a 4-0 win in Maritime Junior Hockey League Bent Division semifinal playoff action here Thursday.
With the win the Ramblers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 back in Truro on Saturday night. Game 4 will be back in Amherst on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Maxime Richard opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the first period when his long shot from the left faceoff circle fooled Scott and trickled across the goal line. Trevor Layton and Jamie Bishop added assists on the goal.
After killing off four consecutive minor penalties, the Ramblers opened up a two-goal lead 6:30 into the second period when Mathieu Boudreau's blast from the point through traffic eluded Scott with Layton and Brandon Street adding assists.
The Ramblers got a bit of a scare late in the period when Bearcats' forward Dylan McGuigan drove the net and ran into goalie Richard TIngley. Tingley remained in the game, while McGuigan was given a major and game misconduct.
With the teams playing four-on-four, Layton scored on a rebound with 12 seconds to play in the period with Street adding an assist.
Just as the McGuigan penalty expired, the Ramblers opened up a four-goal lead with Cole MacMillan setting up captain Justin Matthews as they broke in two-on-one. Boudreau added an assist.
Amherst outshot Truro 36-28.
The Ramblers will be without forward Brandon MacLean on Saturday as he sits out the second game of his two-game suspension from Game 2. Jordan Cox is also out.
Kody Blois made his return to the game last night, backing up Tingley. Brandon Parker was called up from the Windsor Royals to fill the void created by MacLean and the injury to forward Shane O'Byrne
CKDH 101.7 FM will have Saturday's broadcast from Truro.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
