Corrected to show Games 6 and 7, if necessary, will be at C.B.S. Arena
If the Southern Shore Breakers are going to find a way to win the 2019 Herder Memorial Trophy provincial senior hockey final, they’ll have to do it tby taking a much harder route.
The Puglisevich Breakers are down 2-0 in the Herder series after losing a pair of games to the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts over the weekend at Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay, having fallen 4-3 in Saturday’s opener before dropping a 5-1 decision on Sunday afternoon.
The best-of-seven series now moves to Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium in Grand Falls-Windsor, where three games are scheduled for next weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The Breakers will have to win at least a couple of those contests if they are to ensure the teams will return to play at the Conceptrion Bay South Arena, where the final two games of the series, if necessary, will be played over the Easter weekend. The Breakers’ normal base is the Southern Shore Arena in Mobile, but the newer, larger Jack Byrne and C.B.S. Arenas are their scheduled homes for the Herder final.
In Game 2 on Sunday at Torbay, the Cataracts started off where they had left off on Saturday — on a goal by Kyle McGuirk.
McGuirk had scored the winning tally in the opening game, connecting on a third-period power play as Grand Falls-Windsor completed a comeback from a 3-1 deficit. He didn’t wait nearly as long to score in the rematch, getting the puck past Southern Shore netminder Mark Yetman just 58 seconds after the opening faceoff.
It gave Grand Falls-Windsor a lead it would build on with second-period goals by Andre Gill and Rodi Short.
The Breakers finally got on the board early in the third on a well-placed shot by Kyle Tibbo, one of four members of the Conception Bay Blues picked up by Southern Shore for this series. It was the Breakers’ first goal in more than three periods, stretching back to Saturday’s middle frame.
But Southern Shore would score no more. Meanwhile, the Cataracts got two third-period tallies, from Danny Wicks and Michael Cole, the latter into an empty net.
Grand Falls-Windsor got a solid penalty-killing effort Sunday, knocking down seven Southern Shore man-advantage opportunities. In fact, Cole’s empty-net goal came while the Cataracts were shorthanded.
Grand Falls-Windsor had two power-play chances.
A. J. Whiffen made 43 saves for the Cataracts, while the Breakers’ Yetman faced 25 shots. It was far different workload than Yetman had in the opener, when he dealt with 53 shots. Unfortunately for Southern Shore, the end result was the same.
Notes
Playing coach Patrick Yetman had three assists for Grand Falls-Windsor on Sunday … Yetman had scored for Grand-Falls-Windsor on Saturday, when the Cats also got goals from Gill and Wicks, in addition to McGuirk’s game-winner … Southern Shore’s markers in the opener came from Daniel Cadigan, who had two, and Peter Kavanagh …
Twitter: @TelySports