EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – Edmundston Blizzard forwards Olivier Coulombe and Noah Matulu were merciless against the Miramichi Timberwolves defense on Thursday night at the Jean-Daigle Centre.
The Blizzard extended their winning streak to seven after a relatively easy 6-1 triumph.
Coulombe notched his second hat trick of the season going for his 13th, 14th and 15th goals in just his ninth game. As for Matulu, he collected his 6th and 7th goals of the campaign. Defenseman Tim Porter (3rd) scored the other goal for the Blizzard.
Jérémy Duhamel is the only one from Miramichi to have beaten goaltender Thomas Boucher, who is continuing his momentum with a sixth straight win since joining the Blizzard on November 10. He has a tiny 1.33 goals-against-average in that span.
The Blizzard led 33-29 in shots. American Logan Slou was solid in the first period in front of the Timberwolves net but he could not hold up the fort when Edmundston opened the machine in the second period with four unanswered goals. Coulombe (1st), Matulu (2nd) and Evan Gass (3rd), all from the Blizzard, deserved the stars of the game.
The Blizzard’s record now stands at 13-10-0-1, good for first place in the Eastlink North Division of the Maritime Hockey League. The Blizzard leads Summerside and Campbellton by a meager point. But let’s not get carried away too quickly because the Blizzard have played a ton more games than their closest pursuers. Summerside has seven games in hand and Campbellton has four more games to play than Simon Olivier’s men. The Blizzard is the only team that has not been involved in game postponements following Hurricane Fiona which affected the showing of many games in September and October.
The Blizzard will play its next two games on the road, Saturday (at Miramichi, 7 p.m.) and Sunday (at Campbellton, 3 p.m.).
Blizzard-Lumberjacks Trade
Earlier Thursday, the Blizzard and the South Shore Lumberjacks completed a mega deal involving players and draft picks. The Blizzard traded Zach Welsh, the rights to Aiden Tucker and a sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft in return for the rights to Owen Arnold, a conditional first-round pick (Valley) in 2023, a conditional 2nd round pick in 2023, a 2nd round pick in 2024 and future considerations.
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Photo
Shediac rookie Noah Matulu scored twice for the first time in his career on Thursday night. Photo Percy Picard.
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone