A miraculous comeback, and two overtime battles for the Yarmouth Mariners in New Brunswick.
The three-game road-trip ended Sunday with two wins, five of a possible six points, and being one point back of the Pictou County Crushers for the last playoff spot in the division.
Friday, November 21: Mariners 6, Tigers 5
The Mariners started the weekend in Campbellton, hoping for a strong start after losing three in a row at home.
Yarmouth were down 5-2 with under five minutes left in the game, but two goals by Luke Foley, including the game winner with 14 seconds left, and two goals from Cole MacLeod helped them rally to win 6-5.
Owen O’Donnell also scored twice, and Maxime Giguere got his first win as a Mariner in goal.
Head Coach and GM Laurie Barron:
“Obviously we were disappointed to have a bad second period, (allowing five goals) but we rebounded and had a amazing comeback in the third period to steal two points.”
Saturday, November 22: Mariners 2, Lightning 3 (OT)
Yarmouth moved onto Bathurst to face the Chaleur Lightning on Saturday night, their first ever meeting against the new franchise.
After holding a lead for most of the game, the Mariners gave up the tying goal with 22 seconds left, and went on to lose 3-2 in overtime.
‘We played a perfect 59:30 in that one, it was a playoff style game. Unfortunately we gave up a late goal and they got us in OT,” said Barron.
Keegan Warren was named third star of the game, making 24 saves for the Mariners, Cole MacLeod and Jared Pitman had the goals.
Sunday, November 23: Mariners 4, Timberwolves 3 (OT)
Yarmouth finished off the road-trip in style on Sunday, as Liam Dutcher scored in overtime for the 4-3 victory in Miramichi.
It was the 20-year-old’s second of the game.
Cole MacLeod and Owen O’Donnell had the other goals, and Keegan Warren was solid in net once again with 33 saves.
“This game was a dogfight,” said Barron.
“We had guys banged up, only had 10 forwards but we gutted it out, killed a big penalty with two minutes left and got it to OT.”
Barron took responsibility for the team’s slow start to the season last weekend, and says his team showed resilience on the weekend.
“I’m extremely proud of our effort the whole weekend, it was a real gut-check.”
The Mariners play the Lightning at home Saturday and Pictou County at Mariners Centre on Sunday afternoon.
