BERWICK, Nova Scotia – The Edmundston Blizzard annihilated the Valley Wildcats by the score of 7-1, Friday night, in a game of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League (MHL) played in front of 220 fans gathered at the Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick, a small bucolic town famous for harvesting apples.
The Olivier Coulombe – Alex Arsenault – Jérémy Duguay line literally demolished the Wildcats defense. They each had four points, three goals and an assist for Coulombe, a goal and three assists for Alex Arsenault and four assists for Duguay.
Coulombe now has 27 goals in just 20 games. He is just two goals behind MHL goal leader Marc Richard of Summerside, who has played 31 games. Coulombe’s streak with at least one point is now at 20 games. In addition, he scored the game-winning goal on Friday, which gives him eight for a new team record he shared before the game with Alexandre Jacob (seven in 2017-2018).
Tim Porter (1g, 1a), Marco Martin (1g, 1a) and Patrick LeBlanc completed the scoring for the Blizzard (23-11-0-1) which recorded a fifth victory in a row.
The Wildcats’ weak response came from Ethan Landry who beat Samuel LeBlanc with a nice play just 42 seconds from the start of the game. Thereafter, LeBlanc was never threatened. In fact, the Blizzard was ruthless by dominating 44-16 in the shots column. The Blizzard even outshot the Wildcats (16-16-3-1) 23-3 in the second period. The 16 shots allowed by Edmundston were the lowest total by a local team against the Blizzard since the 2017-18 season.
The Blizzard will have to come down to earth soon after this easy victory because they will face a tough team Saturday night, the Truro Bearcats, who easily beat the Summerside Western Capitals, Friday night, with a 7-2 victory. Like the Blizzard, the Bearcats are a powerhouse in the country and Saturday’s matchup in Truro (7 p.m.) will be a big test for both teams.
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Olivier Coulombe, Alex Arsenault and Jérémy Duguay had a great game on Friday night in Berwick tallying four points each. (Photos Percy Picard)
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone