NL Black Horse opens national ball hockey championships with a pair of wins

Growlers make big contributions to victories against Ontario teams

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NL Black Horse’s quest for a national ball hockey title had a great start Tuesday with a pair of wins over Ontario teams at the 2019 CBHA men’s A championship, being held in Mount Pearl and Goulds.

At the Glacier in Mount Pearl, Black Horse got rolling with 5-2 win over the Niagara War Pigs, then followed up with a 3-2 victory in a matchup with the North York Hitmen.

St. John’s native Marcus Power, just a couple of months removed from an ECHL championship with the Newfoundland Growlers, had a goal and an assist in each game for Black Horse, the runner-up to the Edmonton Savages at last year’s championship. Fellow Growler Zach O’Brien did the same in the game against Niagara, as did Connor Donaghey versus North York.

The men’s championship is one of three national events being conducted at the Glacier and Goulds Arena this week. The women’s A and men’s masters tourneys also got underway Tuesday,

All three events feature two entries from Newfoundland and Labrador.

In masters play, the Colonial Selects from St. John’s edged the Montreal Machine 3-2 Tuesday, but none of the other four provincial representatives came up with a victory on opening day.

In the women’s division, NL United had a tie and a loss, while the Host team dropped two decisions; the NL Cabot Masters were blanked 2-0 by the Alberta Havoc; and NL Host, the second men’s entry, was doubled 6-3 by the Saskatoon Buffalo in its lone game Tuesday.

Round-robin play continues at both venues today and Thursday, with playoff and placement games starting Friday, leading to championship games on Saturday.

Here are all the scores from opening day:

Masters

Halton Leafs 2, York Express 2

Alberta Havoc 2, NL Cabot Masters 0

Colonial Master Selects 3, Montreal Machine 2

Ottawa Capitals 4, Team Saskatchewan 4

Women

New Tecumseth Xtreme 2, NL United 1

Ottawa Capitals 8, NL Host 1

NL United 1, BC Selects 1

New Tecumseth Xtreme 2, NL Host 0

Men