SPRINGHILL – The Cumberland/Colchester Colts lost seven of their eight meeting to the East Hants Penguins this season, and were outscored 65 to 18 in those eight games, but none of that mattered over the weekend.
The Colts won the first two games of their best-of-three, mini-series playoff match-up Saturday and Sunday, and they now advanced to a semi-final showdown against Nova Scotia Junior Regional Junior Hockey League’s top team, the Spryfield Attack.
On Sunday, the Colts were home at the Richard Calder Arena in Springhill, where they won the game, and the series, by a score of 7-5.
East Hants struck first, taking a 1-0 lead, but the Colts scored two points before the end of the first period going up 2-1.
Stone Millier scored an unassisted goal with 8:20 left in the frame, and Connor Campbell gave the Colts the lead with 2:37 left in the first period off a pass from Chandler MacKinnon.
The Colts went up 3-1 at one minute into the second period. Matt Cormier scored, with assists from Ryan Bishop and Dylan Albright.
East Hants scored two points, tying the game 3-3, but Bishop scored off passes from Millier and Aaron Sock, and Anthony Cormier-Gardner scored an unassisted goal, giving the Colts a 5-3 lead.
The Penguins came out in the third period and scored with 11:06 left in the game and 9:58 left in the game, tying the match 5-5.
Bishop broke the tie with a little less than nine minutes left in the game on an unassisted, shorthanded goal, and then Peter MacNeil scored an unassisted goal with 1:52 left in the game, giving the Colts a two-point cushion.
Each team had 36 shots on net, and Francois Cormier played in net for the Colts.
The Colts were at the East Hants Sportsplex on Saturday where they beat the Penguins 4-2.
Connor Campbell scored one goal and one assist for the Colts, and Bishop, Cormier-Gardner, and Millier scored one goal each.
Dylan Stephens added two assists for the Colts, and Albright has one helper.
Cormier played in net for the Colts, stopping 42 of the 44 shots he faced. Cormier's teammates had 23 shots on the Penguins net.
The Colts now play the Spryfield Attack in a best-of-five series.
They are in Spryfield on Saturday at 8 p.m., and return home Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest against the Attack.
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