EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – The Edmundston Blizzard still had fresh in their minds the last time the Yarmouth Mariners visited the Jean-Daigle Centre, when they won the final game of the MHL Metalfab Cup on April 21st.
On Thursday night, the Blizzard and goaltender Nicholas Sheehan conceded nothing to the defending champions, and Simon Olivier’s troop won 4-0. For Sheehan, it was his fourth shutout of the season, a record for a Blizzard goaltender in a single year. With his two shutouts in his rookie year of 2021-2022, Sheehan joined the very popular Francis Asselin, who had six shutouts in the combined 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
Sheehan was spectacular, particularly in the third period when he made 19 saves. In total, he faced 33 shots. The Blizzard unleashed 38 shots against the Mariners cage defended by Thomas Fontaine who also had a tremendous game.
After a sleepy first period, the Blizzard opened the scoring at 4:20 of the second period thanks to Dominic LeBlanc (23rd). Marco Martin (4th) fired a shot past Fontaine from the face-off at 12:46 to make it 2-0.
In the third, the Mariners showed their teeth, but came up against a very solid Sheehan who managed to locate the puck everywhere. Defenseman Anastasios Lazaris took all hopes away from Yarmouth with his third goal of the season in an empty net at 18:05. Jeremy Ste-Marie’s final goal of the evening (17th), with 25 seconds remaining in the contest, was undoubtedly the prettiest of the game. Ste-Marie put the disc behind Fontaine following a beautiful three-way exchange with Peter Amanatidis and Dominic LeBlanc.
This was the Blizzard’s 16th straight home win. Their last setback came on November 17, 2023. Edmundston has a record of 35-11-1-0. With 71 points they have a seven-point lead over the West-Kent Steamers (31-14-2-0), and the two teams have played 47 games. With only five games left in the season, the Blizzard’s magic number for the Eastlink North Division championship is four.
The Blizzard’s next game is on Saturday, March 2nd, when the Valley Wildcats (9-35-2-0) come to the Jean-Daigle Centre.
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Photo
Nicholas earned his 4th perfect game of the season by blanking the Mariners. Photo Percy Picard
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone