AMHERST – Aidan McBurnie stuffed home a loose puck from the top of the crease with 31 seconds to play to lift the Cumberland County Amherst Toyota Ramblers to a 5-4 win over the West Hants Warriors to win the Mainland Peewee AA Hockey League championship.
With the win, the Ramblers move to the Day of Champions in two weeks where they will play the Halifax Hawks for the Nova Scotia championship.
In the championship game Sunday, the Ramblers built up a 4-0 lead in the second period before the Warriors started chipping away at the lead to pull even with 3:22 to play in the third period.
Sam Maddison, Burke Bed, Brady Stack and Kieran Sears scored for the Ramblers in the game while Ben MacDonald and Kieran Sears added assists.
Wilson Davison had two goals for West Hants with Blake Manders and Austin Hood adding single goals.
“I thought Phoenix Remington was excellent in nets all weekend and made some big saves at key times to keep the momentum rolling, while I thought Kieran Sears and Aidan McBurnie had a great weekend,” Ramblers coach Jeff Walsh said. “They were massive in their contributions in the offensive zone and very disciplined in the defensive zone. They both logged a pile of minutes and were able to compete at a high level all six games.”
Earlier Sunday, the Ramblers exploded for six third period goals to defeat the Yarmouth Mariners 6-2.
Kieran Sears continued his torrid scoring pace with three goals for the Ramblers, but it was Sam Maddison’s pair midway through the third period that paced the Ramblers rally.
Aidan McBurnie also scored for Cumberland County with Brady Stack adding two assists and Burke Beed, Jimmy Carr and Reece MacDonald each adding one assist.
Riley Hubbard and Russell Pinksen scored for Yarmouth.
West Hants defeated Pictou County 6-1 in the second semifinal with Nolan Fowler and Austin Hood each scoring twice.
The Ramblers opened the tournament with a convincing 7-2 win over the Acadia Axemen with Kieran Sears scoring four goals and Alex Herrett, Ethan Rose and Mandel Nickerson scoring once.
Jimmy Carr, Burke Beed and Brady Stack each had two assists and Reece MacDoald, Ben MacDonald and Kyler Edwards each had one assist.
Ryan Brown and CJ Zinck scored for Acadia.
Aidan McBurnie scored three times and Mandel Nickerson had a goal and two assists as Cumberland County defeated the Truro Bearcats 7-2 in the club’s second game on Friday.
Burke Beed had a goal and two assists and Sam Maddison and Ben MacDonald also scored once for Cumberland County with Phoenix Remington, Ethan Rose, Nate Arseneau and Sam Maddison adding assists.
Evan Shay and Aiden Gloade scored for Truro.
Kieran Sears had four goals and Aidan McBurnie a goal and an assist as the Ramblers move to 3-0 with a 6-0 win over the Antigonish Bulldogs.
Phoenix Remington and Hayden Crocket the shutout and Mandel Nickerson also scored with Burke Beed and Brady Stack adding two assists each and Aidan McBurnie, Nate Arseneau and Kyler Edwards adding assists.
Cumberland County cruised into the semifinals in top spot after defeating the Western Valley Spartans 9-5 in their final round robin game on Saturday.
Kieran Sears had three goals and two assists and Aidan McBurnie had three goals and an assist in the win with Burke Beed, Mandel Nickerson and Brady Stack each scoring once.
Brady Stack and Burke Beed each had three assists with Alex Herrett, Reece MacDonald, Nate Arseneau and Kyler Edwards each chipping in single assists.
Walsh said Kyler Edwards and Burke Beed as well as Sam Maddison and Brady Stack were excellent on the penalty kill while he credited Ben MacDonald and Reece MacDonald for bring real “heart and soul” guys throughout the tournament. He said defenceman Jimmy Carr also had a good weekend despite battling some illness and a nagging knee injury with both Nolan McNally and Nate Arseneau being big on defence when killing penalties.
The coach said Ethan Rose, Alex Herrett and Mandel Nickerson played well and chipped in with some timely offence and excellent play defensively while he was happy to see Hayden Crocket return to the lineup and make some big saves when called on.
He also thanked the Town of Amherst for providing the ice for free as part of its free ice time pilot project and the many volunteers that made the tournament a success.
