The Conception Bay North Stars and Mount Pearl Blades both took commanding 2-0 leads in their opening-round, best-of-five St. John’s Junior Hockey League playoff series which opened over the weekend.
At The Glacier in Mount Pearl Sunday night, the Blades got two goals from Bobby Upshall for the second straight game en route to an 8-2 victory over the Northeast Eagles. Jared Ostroski, Jacob Kavanagh, Grant Thompson, Daniel Toope, Stephen Predham and Adam Nolan netted singles.
Ben Roberts and Max French had the Northeast goals.
The Blades opened the series Friday night with a 7-4 win at the Jack Byrne Arena, on two goals apiece from Upshall and Colin O’Neil. Ostroski, Nolan and Andrew Ricketts netted singles. French, Edward Farrell, Ryan Ricketts replied for the Eagles.
At Twin Rinks Saturday night, the Stars grabbed a 2-0 lead in their series with the St. John’s Caps, taking a 9-3 decision on two goals apiece from Mitchell Lewis and Michael Hopkins. Christian Dawe, Ryan Dawson, Jordan Coombs, Ryon Williams and Mark Barrett potted singles. Nathan Peters, Murray Byrne and Grant Nolan had the St. John’s goals.
Friday night, it took 11 minutes before Scott Delaney scored in double overtime to give the Stars a 6-5 win. C.B.N. got singles from Barrett, Lewis, Michael Mason, Daniel Hickey and Christian Dawe. For the Caps, it was Nolan, Peters, Dylan Mackenzie and Jordan Richards.
The CBR Renegades and Trinity-Placentia Flyers split their two-game weekend series.
Sunday, the homestanding Flyers doubled the Renegades 8-5 behind Conal McNamara’s two goals at the Whitbourne Stadium. Andrew Parsons, Tyler Whittle, Lyndon Thorne, Andrew Kelly, Justin Edison and Josh Williams also scored for Trinity-Placentia. Replying for CBR were Tyler Wall, Colin Chafe, Blake Fudge, Tyler Hennessey and Drew Stonehouse.
The Renegades opened the series Saturday night at the C.B.S. Arena with an easy 9-2 win. Tyler Nickson recorded a hat trick, and Fudge and Wall each had a pair of goals for CBR. Lucas Lush and Nathan Tucker had singles. Ethan Street and Thorne were the Flyers’ marksmen.
At the Southern Shore Arena Friday night, the Breakers took a 9-4 decision over the Avalon Capitals in their series-opener. Kieran O’Driscoll had a hat trick to lead the way, and both league scoring champ Liam Hynes and Blake Dalton had a pair of goals. Singles came from Leroy Warford and Liam Buckley. Avalon’s goalscorers were Grant Lane, Henry Power, Cameron Dunn and Brett Vokey.
