EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – The Summerside Western Capitals and the Edmundston Blizzard played a real playoff game on Sunday afternoon at the Jean-Daigle Centre. And the fans got their money’s worth in this hard-fought battle that ended in a 5-4 shootout win by the Islanders.
After a scoreless five-minute overtime, both teams sent 12 players into the shootout before settling the debate. Chrystopher Collin scored during the shootout but Marc-André LeCouffe brought the two teams back in a tie by scoring in the third round. Josh MacDonald gave the victory for the Western Capitals when his shot beat Antoine Lyonnais five-hole. MacDonald was the 6th shooter for the Capitals in the decisive showdown.
Lyonnais (third star) was undoubtedly the star of the game by multiplying key stops, sometimes miraculous. He faced 52 shots in 65 minutes of work. His rival Dominik Tmej was also up to the task. He received 43 shots.
The animosity that prevails during the games between these two fierce opponents was still much alive. A total of 64 minutes of penalty was handed out by the referees in the first period alone. Both teams showed more discipline in the following periods to offer a nice battle in front of 2,666 spectators.
First star of the game, Colby MacArthur scored two goals, the others going to Brodie MacArthur and Marc Richard. Chrystopher Collin registered a second consecutive day of two goals for the Blizzard. Tristan Gagnon (2nd star0 had a perfect afternoon of one goal and three assists. The other Blizzard goal was scored by Mitchell McLeod.
Summerside capitalized twice during six power play opportunities. The Western Capitals lead the league with a 30 percent successful rate during power plays. The Blizzard did not score in five attempts.
The Western Capitals (18-3-0-0) left Edmundston with four points after their 5-3 win on Saturday. With 36 points, they now lead the Blizzard (13-6-0-1) by nine points on top of the Eastlink North Division of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League.
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Photo
Goalkeeper Antoine Lyonnais was put to the test 52 times in Sunday’s game. Photo Percy Picard
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone