GRAND FALLS, N.B. – The Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers built up a 5-1 third period lead and held off a third period rally en route to a 5-3 win over the Grand Falls Rapids in MHL action on Sunday.
It marked the culmination of a three-games in three days swing through western and northern New Brunswick that saw them pick up a pair of wins while dropping a 3.2 decision to the Edmundston Blizzard on Saturday.
“I thought overall we had a pretty good game today and a great weekend overall,” Ramblers coach and GM Jeff LeBlanc said in a post on the team’s Facebook page. “Three-in-three isn’t easy, especially with an afternoon game today. The boys battled hard all weekend and after watching the game again from last night (in Edmundston) we out-chanced them two to one and probably should have won.”
Alex Lafreniere had a goal and an assist to lead the Ramblers offensively on Sunday with Cole Darrach and Stephen Fox giving Amherst a 2-0 first period lead.
After Jarrod Isley pulled the Rapids to within a goal just two minutes into the second period, Lafreniere, Caleb Rich and Aidan McFarland scored to give the visiting Ramblers a four-goal cushion heading into the final period.
Dawson Wood scored a pair of goals for Grand Falls in the final period and seemed to take the momentum from the Ramblers midway through the period, but goalie Matt Williams made several key saves to preserve the win.
Matt Sartoris, Colton McKenna, Nick Snow and Alex Whynter added assists.
Williams saved 39 of 42 shots for the Ramblers.
The Ramblers come home Thursday to face the Truro Bearcats on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before heading back out on the road to face the South Shore Lumberjacks on Friday.
Casey Fox and Alex Whynter scored in the loss to Edmundston on Saturday with Dawson Grenier, Alex Lafreniere, Max Boudreau and Nick Snow adding assists.
Logan Johnston, Malcolm Arseneau and Sam LeBlanc scored for the Blizzard.
Joel Goguen stopped 26 of 29 shots for the Ramblers.
Casey Fox had two goals and an assist in the 5-3 win in St. Stephen on Friday.
Hunter McIntyre, Cole Waugh and Alex Lafreniere each scored once with Dawson Grenier, Caleb Rich and Matt Sartoris had single assists. Nick Snow and Stpehen Fox each had two.
Logan Holstein, Michael Waugh and Brandon Costa scored for St. Stephen.
Matt Williams stopped 24 of 27 shots faced.
