WESTVILLE ROAD – It is Mission Improbable for the Junior A Crushers.
A full 10 points behind the Truro Bearcats and with nine games remaining in the regular season to catch Truro for the final playoff spot, the Crushers need to go on a serious run and also hope Truro, who’ve won nine of their last 11 to make life even more difficult for Pictou County, suddenly falls apart.
Not impossible, just improbable.
Thursday’s night contest against the Amherst Ramblers (7 p.m. at the Pictou County Wellness Centre) would be a good place to start, followed by road games on Friday (Woodstock Slammers) and Saturday (St. Stephen Aces). A good weekend – meaning, if they win all three of them – would give them a much more realistic chance at catching the Bearcats. A bad weekend would likely mean the Crushers are out of the playoff race, which would be a first in the team’s 14-year history.
Notes:
• Jacob Hickey leads the Crushers with 24 goals. He scored in last Friday’s 7-4 loss against the South Shore Lumberjacks and has eight in his past 10 games. Also scoring against the Lumberjacks were Dylan Riley, Nick Jessome and Alex Bonaparte.
The Crushers play Truro twice more at home; on Feb. 27 (a makeup game) and on March 8.
• The Ramblers have won two straight after going through a four-game losing streak. They’ve beaten the Crushers in three of the four games between the two clubs.
BY THE NUMBERS
Pictou County Crushers
Record: 17-20-4 (5th, South Division)
Top 5 Scorers: Michael Dill (17G, 26A), Jacob Hickey (24G, 16A), Dylan Riley (18G, 20A), Marc Gagnon (4G, 22A), Jake Martin (4G, 19A).
Amherst Ramblers
Record: 22-9-12 (3rd, South Division)
Top 5 Scorers: Jordan King (23G, 40A), Brady Griffin-Hefford (22G, 26A), Liam Conrad (19G, 18A), Layton Parsons (15G, 17A), Dawson Grenier (5G, 23A).
