NEW GLASGOW - The Pictou County Wonder Auto Bantam AA Crushers defeated the Truro Bearcats twice this weekend in a home-and-away series.
On Saturday at the Stellarton Memorial Arena, the Crushers downed Truro 5-2 despite being down two players.
Pictou County got on the board 10 seconds in as Cody Johnston scored on a pass from Tommy Hayman and Jacob MacDonald. The Bearcats reacted quickly, tying the game up a mere 11 seconds later.
The game remained tied until about one minute into the second period, when Jacob Bailey made good on a breakaway and put one over the Bearcat goaltender's glove. Brett Connors and Blake Robertson assisted. Brandon Bell put the Crushers up by two midway through the second, scoring from the point after taking a pass from Bailey. Robertson put the team up by three on a shorthanded goal. Eleven seconds later, the Bearcats picked up a powerplay goal.
Midway through the third, Bailey scored the team's fifth goal of the game on a three-way passing play from Robertson and Rainer MacKay. Marshall MacNeill picked up the win, stopping 20 of 22 shots, while the Crushers put 46 shots on goal.
On Sunday, the Crushers travelled to Debert and picked up a convincing 7-1 win, scoring five unanswered goals in the third period.
Scott Graham had big seven point game, scoring five goals and assisting on two others.
Truro held the lead for the first period and the majority of the second period. Then, in the span of 10 seconds, they picked up their first two of the game. The first came from Graham with the assist coming from Bailey. Bailey then scored the game-winner on a pass from Rainer MacKay.
The third period was Graham's - he scored four goals in six minutes to put the Crushers up 6-1. Bailey rounded out the game, scoring on another breakaway. Joel MacLean earned the win in goal and stopped 26 of 27 shots.
The Crushers continue the countdown to hosting the Provincials in March and will spend the next few weeks doing some fine tuning in preparation for the five-team showdown.
