SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – The Edmundston Blizzard has just sent a serious message to all teams in the Maritime Hockey League (MHL). They should never be considered beaten.
The powerful Summerside Western Capitals learned this the hard way when they saw the Blizzard come back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period to ultimately defeat them 5-4 in overtime.
Michael Derbidge (4th) set the tone at 6:42 by narrowing the score to 4-2 in the third period. Noah Larochelle reduced the gap to 4-3 at 12:30 with his second goal of the game. With 2:17 left on the clock, Darien Thomson (25th) grabbed a rebound to tie the game at 4-4. The Blizzard had the wind in their sails and completely dominated the rest of the game.
Noah Breau (9th) scored the overtime goal with only 34 seconds left on the board. In a two-on-one situation, Derbidge fed him a nice pass and Breau fired a one-timer to beat the goalie to his right with a sharp shot, sending the Blizzard bench into a frenzy.
Alex Hendry (3rd), Brennan Murphy (8th), Max Jardine (1st), and Henry Ouellet (5th) beat Cédric Massé, who faced 40 shots. Had it not been for the brilliance of the Rimouski goalie, the game would certainly have been out of reach for the Blizzard. Although he was left off the all-star list, it’s safe to say that he literally stole this game from the Western Capitals (21-7-3-4).
The Blizzard (17-14-1-2) fired 28 shots at Kolton Bourret.
Thomson (1st), Larochelle (2nd), and Jardine (3rd) earned the game’s stars.
This important win allows the Blizzard to pull away slightly from the Campbellton Tigers (15-14-3-1), who suffered a defeat on Thursday night. The Blizzard now leads the Tigers by three points in fourth place in the Eastlink North Division.
Michael Ward’s men will travel to Nova Scotia on Friday, January 9, to face the Amherst Ramblers (19-13-1-0). This will be the Blizzard’s last interdivision game as they finish their 52-game schedule by playing their last 17 games against teams in their division.
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Photos
Darien Thomson (No. 9 – 1 goal, 1st star), Noah Larochelle (No. 24 – 2 goals, 2nd star), Noah Breau (No. 16 – game-winning goal) and Cédric Massé (No. 31 – 40 saves) were key contributors to Thursday’s 5-4 win in Summerside. Photo archives Percy Picard
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Source: Hugues Chiasson, communications – Edmundston Blizzard (506) 253-7741