MIRAMICHI, N.B. – With a roster hit hard by injury and a four-game losing streak staring them in the face, it was a rookie to the rescue.
Kevin Mason’s goal with 2:40 left gave the Pictou County Crushers a 2-1 win over the Miramichi Timberwolves on Saturday.
The Crushers had entered the game on a three-game losing skid, the latest being a 4-1 loss to the Campbellton Tigers on Friday, with Dylan Riley getting the only goal for Pictou County. That game saw Pictou County, already missing Jake Martin and Marc Gagnon, lose Quinten Johnson (upper body) and Jon Vandermolen (lower) to injury, before they limped into Miramichi and eked out a much-needed win.
“It's good to end a tough week of injuries with a win,” coach Doug Doull would say after they beat the T-Wolves.
“Fourteen skaters and third game in three nights, I thought the boys showed guts.”
Against Miramichi, the Crushers were clinging to a 1-0 lead in the third (Jake Stewart had a second-period goal for Pictou County) before the Timberwolves evened things up on a Dylan Wheatley marker. But Stewart and Gioncarlo Fiori combined to set up Mason’s winner, the third goal of the season for the 17-year-old.
Doull called it a “total team effort. If Kevin Mason and Jake Stewart can keep progressing up front, we can be a tough team to play. They played great all weekend – their line with (Donovan) Rehill was our best (on Saturday). Nice for them to be impact players in a tough road game.”
Pictou County (7-7-1) will play the Amherst Ramblers on Thursday at the Pictou County Wellness Centre, starting at 7 p.m.
