WESTVILLE ROAD, N.S. – The Junior A Crushers wish they could keep playing.
The surging Crushers won their fifth game in a row on Dec. 15, when they beat the South Shore Lumberjacks 6-5 in overtime at the Pictou County Wellness Centre.
It was their final Maritime Hockey League game until Jan. 3, when they host the Amherst Ramblers.
The Crushers, who moved within two points of the Lumberjacks in the MHL’s South Division standings (South Shore has played three fewer games than Pictou County), had to rally from a 5-2 deficit in the second period to force OT.
- Hickey, who is on a torrid pace in his last 11 games (8G, 9A), got the comeback started when he scored an unassisted goal late in the second period.
Dylan Riley and Kevin Mason had third-period goals for the Crushers and Barrett Dachyshyn would pot the OT winner 53 seconds into the extra session.
Mason also had a goal in the first period. It was his second-consecutive two-goal game;
on Dec. 13, he and Riley and Mason each had a pair of goals as the Crushers won 8-5 against the Truro Bearcats.
Evan MacLennan had a goal and two assists against Truro, while getting single markers were Jacob Hickey, Aiden Hickey and Malcolm MacEachern. Malcolm Genge and Dachyshyn both had two helpers for Pictou County.
Crushers Notes:
• The Crushers are 8-1 in their past 10 games. With the offence suddenly clicking, they have scored 28 goals in their current five-game win streak.
• Kevin Mason now has eight goals and three assists in eight games since joining the Crushers after a stint in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
• After a quiet first two months of the season, Dylan Riley has 13 points (6G, 7A) in the past six games.
• Starting goalie Matt Normore was pulled against South Shore, after he allowed four goals in the first period. Andrew MacLeod replaced him and made 15 saves as the Crushers clawed their way back into the contest.