AMHERST – The Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers beat the Bridgewater Lumberjacks 10-1 during Maritime Hockey League action Saturday night at Amherst Stadium.
“It was a bit of pay back there,” said Ramblers coach and general manager Jim Bottomley after the game. “We couldn’t score last night (in a 2-0 loss to Summerside). We had to change the line around to get a little more flow going and pucks into the net. Turned out to be a good result.”
The Ramblers opened strong, taking in four goals in the first period from Brett Shute, Willie MacDonald, Patrick Harrison and Ben Berisha.
Cam McDonald, Maxime Richard, Josh Pugsley, Mitchell O’Neill and Jamie Bishop earned assists on the goals.
The Ramblers went up 6-0 early in the second off goals from McDonald and Kody Orr before the Lumberjacks earned their first goal of the night, making it a 6-1 game.
Brett Arthur, Brock Morrison, Jeff MacPherson and Shute earned assists on the goals.
The second period ended with the Ramblers up 7-1 when Berisha scored his second goal of the night off assists from Shute and Richard.
Bottomley said it was a much different game for them and he thought the other team would be up for the on-ice battle.
“Our guys were definitely ready to go,” he said.
Berisha couldn’t have been happier with the win.
“The last few games…we just haven’t put the puck in the net,” he said immediately after the game. ”Today we did it, we got the bounces. It was a good game for us.”
But it was the third period that gave both the Ramblers and the fans a shock.
While entering the Lumberjack’s zone, Pugsley suffered a hard hit and had to be taken out of the game by paramedics.
“We got the word back that he was alright out there on the ice,” said Bottomley. “It’s one of those things. We wanted to come out and set the tone and all of a sudden, there’s a power play and five big guys go out and score right away.
“It’s one of those things that happens, and we’ll remember this the next time we play them.”
Bottomley said the Ramblers are playing well right now and they can’t afford to lose any more players.
The hit was a case of a large player hitting a smaller one.
Berisha said seeing the whole incident go down was scary.
”We just hope that he’s alright.”
Brett Shute, Jeff MacPherson and Brett Arthur scored the only goals in the final frame, giving the Ramblers the 10-1 win. Jamie Bishop, MacDonald and Jesse MacInnis got assisted on the goals.
Shots on goal was 42-32 in favour of the Ramblers.
722 people attended the game.
The Ramblers lost 2-0 to the Western Capitals on Friday night in Summerside.
Shots on goals was 36-30 for the Caps.
1093 people attended the game.
The Ramblers play away next weekend.
The Ramblers travel to Campbellton on Friday to play the Tigers, and then travel to Miramichi on Saturday to play the Timberwolves.
jturner@amherstdaily.com
