Captain Kyle Ward raises his right arm into the air after scoring his third goal of the game in the third period on Sunday night. Marc Gallie (12) is all smiles after collecting an assist on the sequence. Tristan Mercure joins the festivities. Photo Olivier Chiasson
EDMUNDSTON, Nouveau-Brunswick – Kyle Ward rose one more time to the occasion! The forward scored three goals, including the game winner, to lead the Edmundston Blizzard to a convincing 6-2 win over the Yarmouth Mariners in front of the 17thconsecutive sell-out crowd a the Jean-Daigle Centre in Edmundston.
Blizzard leads the Maritime Junior A Hockey League best-of-seven final series 3-2 and will be looking to grab the MHL championship trophy Tuesday night (7 pm) at the Mariners Centre in Yarmouth.
Unlike the other four games that ended in a single-goal margin, the Blizzard literally served the Mariners a hockey lesson. And the goalkeeper Francis Asselin was once again the dominator in front of the Blizzard’s net.
After the game, Captain Ward praised his teammates’ work ethic. “The guys worked hard for 60 minutes and everyone contributed,” he said.
Remarkably, Ward has scored six winning goals so far in the playoffs. And his 14 goals and 21 points are playoffs highs.
The fact that the Blizzard dictated the pace of the third and overtime periods in the game before and the three periods on Sunday is a good sign for the team that has to return to Yarmouth on Tuesday and hope to prevail.
Gabriel Vanier (2) and Vincent Rioux scored the other goals for the Blizzard. Matt Barron and Brent Broaders responded for the Mariners, each time on the power play.
Blizzard edged Mariners 40-37 on shots on goal. The second period resulted in an avalanche of shooting when both teams (Blizzard 23 and Mariners 15) totaled haf of the game’s shots.
Ward (1st), Asselin (2nd) and Vanier (3rd) earned the game’s three stars.
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone