Amherst, N.S. – The Amherst Ramblers CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers need to win tonight’s 7 p.m. game against the Ottawa Junior Senators to advance to Sundays 4 p.m. championship game.
Jeff LeBlanc, Ramblers coach and general manager is hoping fans flood Amherst Stadium for tonight’s game.
“In my opinion, we have the most passionate fans in the league and we need them Saturday night. We need them behind us, and we need them behind us for 60 minutes,” said LeBlanc following Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Yarmouth Mariners. “We hope to have a packed barn. We hope to see 2,000 people-plus here on Saturday to give that seventh player to these kids who worked all year and worked very, very hard over the past 30 days. We hope the fans are behind us for the full 60 minutes because those kids deserve it.”
Saturday’s game comes on the heels of a 5-0 loss to the Princeville Titan.
Because the game had no impact on the Ramblers road to Sundays final, LeBlanc sat several key players against the Titan, including goaltender Matt Williams, captains Dawson Grenier and Will Lafford, and sniper Matt Green.
Results from Ramblers vs. Titan and Yarmouth vs. Ottawa ( Courtesy of James Faulkner, Directore of Communications for the Maritime Hockey League)
Amherst vs. Titan
The Princeville Titan can rest on Saturday as they advanced directly to the 2019 Fred Page Cup Final following a 5-0 victory over the host Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers Friday night at Amherst Stadium.
The mission for Princeville in the final game of the round robin was simple: win, and a berth in Sunday's final was secured.
Raphael Gagnon opened the scoring with 5:09 remaining in the first period.
His shot from the point looked to be going high on Ramblers goaltender Joel Goguen, but changed direction with two players tied up in front of the blue paint. T
he puck dropped into the net and was initially called no goal due to a high stick.
The officials would huddle and eventually call it a good goal for Gagnon. The period would end with the Titan up 1-0 and holding a 14-5 shot advantage.
Alex Plamondon added to the Princeville lead at 1:07 into the 2nd period as he finished off a one-timer from the slot to make it a 2-0 game over Amherst.
A parade to the penalty box followed, with four straight penalties against the Titan.
In total it would be 6:44 of powerplay time for the Ramblers, including three short 5 on 3 advantages, but they were unable to convert.
Instead, Plamondon scored his second of the night with Princeville shorthanded as he finished off a two on one with Matthew Newbury at 10:51.
Shots in the period were 19-11 for the Titan.
In the 3rd period, Plamondon finished off the hat trick at 7:18 on the powerplay, and the lead would stretch to 5-0 on a goal from Marc-Olivier Lantin-Goudreau at 14:54.
The shot total for the game was 41-24 for Princeville. Players of the game were Ramblers goaltender Joel Goguen and Titan forward Alex Plamondon.
The semifinal on Saturday between the Ottawa Jr. Senators and Amherst Ramblers will run at 7 p.m. at Amherst Stadium. The winner advances to the final on Sunday at 4 p.m. against the Princeville Titan. The action is live on Eastlink Community TV channels 10 and 610, as well as online on HockeyTV. The winner of the Fred Page Cup will advance to the National Jr. A Championship in Brooks, Alberta from May 11th to 19th.
Yarmouth vs. Ottawa
In Friday’s first game the Ottawa Jr. Senators downed the Yarmouth Mariners 5-2.
The Mariners got on the board quickly.
Pressure from the Yarmouth forecheck forced a pass into the middle of Ottawa's zone where Matt Barron intercepted the puck and snapped a shot from the slot that beat Jr. Senators goaltender Joshua Ward at 2:56. Each team came up empty on one powerplay chance each, and shots in the 1st period were 13-10 in favour of Yarmouth.
Ottawa's quick-strike offence would go to work midway through the 2nd period.
Andrew Remer fired a shot up high to tie the game 1-1 at 12:55.
Then just 10 seconds later, Owen Cole beat Yarmouth goaltender Alec MacVicar to give the Jr. Senators their first lead of the game.
Yarmouth would tie things up before the end of the 2nd period as Brent Broaders found the back of the net at 14:44 on the powerplay. Shots in the period were 10-8 for the Mariners.
The Jr. Senators took over in the third period.
Élie Boulerice gave Ottawa the lead on the powerplay at 8:02, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play. Kyle Jackson scored at 11:20 to extend the lead to 4-2.
Ottawa would add another at 13:24, just seconds into another powerplay, as Remer scored his second of the game.
The Jr. Senators doubled their shot total in the 3rd period with an 18-8 advantage over Yarmouth, whose season would come to an end with the 5-2 loss.
Players of the game were Barron for the Mariners and Remer for the Jr. Senators.
