AMHERST – It was a rough game as the Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers took to the ice Saturday night at the Amherst Stadium against the Bridgewater Lumberjacks. But the Ramblers’ hard work earned them a 6-2 win over the visiting team.
The Ramblers opened the game scoring with their first goal, scored on the power play by Kody Orr, assisted by Mitchell O’Neill and Ben MacDonald, 6:47 into the first period. The first period stayed 1-0 for most of it’s duration until Jamie Bishop, assisted by Maxime Richard, scored the team’s second goal at 13:16. The Lumberjacks earned their first goal, scored by Brandon Gaudet, with Jared Dodman and Shawn Boudreau earning assisted with 31 seconds remaining.
It was a tense second period for Ramblers’ fans. The two teams rallied the puck but were unable to get clean net shots to earn any goals.
“It was very frustrating standing behind the bench,” said Ramblers’ coach Jim Bottomley. “The three of us were not too happy with the way they played the first two periods. Those things happen when you add a new player and you’re looking at a team who lost a couple of key guys down the line. They weren’t prepared to play but they put it together in the third period.”
Mitchell O’Neill, assisted by Jamie Bishop and Ben Berisha, earned their team’s third goal only 44 second into the period. The Lumberjacks earned their second and final goal of the game, scored by Connor Hilton, assisted by Brandon Leonardo and Josh Bowman, at 1:58.
The newest addition to the Ramblers’ line up, former Lumberjack Jacob Conrad, scored a goal for his new team, assisted by Patrick Harrison and Maxime Richard.
With a minute remaining in the third period, the Ramblers scored two more goals from Brock Morrison and Maxime Richard with Josh Pusgley, Ryan Caswell, Robert Davis and Ben Berisha all earning assists.
“When you put enough heat on them, eventually they’re going to come in,” said Bottomley. “But for the first two periods, it was pretty even.”
Bottomley was impressed with Conrad’s effort during his first game as a Rambler. But Conrad admitted he was a little nervous going up against his former team.
“It was different because usually, I am trying to pass to those guys,” said Conrad. “This time, I was trying to hit them and go by them but, overall I was glad to get it out of the way and focus on the rest of the year.”
With their latest win under their belt, the Ramblers are now tied for second place with the Truro Bearcats with 47 points. The Ramblers’ next game is Saturday, Jan. 19, when they play host to the Woodstock Slammers.
jturner@amherstdaily.com
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