Three trades and two losses on a busy weekend for the Yarmouth Mariners.
It started with a 4-1 defeat to the last-place Valley Wildcats on home ice Friday.
Yarmouth fired 56 shots on Wildcats goaltender Sean Hogan, who was the first star of the game.
Ryan Loveless had a late powerplay goal in the loss, Keegan Warren made 24 saves.
Sunday at home against Summerside, Yarmouth blew a 3-1 third period lead to the Centennial Cup hosts and lost 4-3.
Luke Foley, Malcolm MacDonald and Dawson O’Connell had the Mariner goals, Warren stopped 41 shots.
Head Coach and GM Laurie Barron says they let the Summerside game slip away.
“We have to find ways to win hockey games. I just felt we sat back and let them take it to us. I think we looked a little nervous to lose instead of trying to win, we were holding on. You can’t do that against a team with that much talent,” said Barron.
With the losses, the Mariners now sit eight points out of a playoff spot with a record of 14-16-3-2.
Garneau out, Rougeau and Breau in
Before Saturday’s trade deadline, the Mariners traded captain Justin Garneau.
The 20-year-old was dealt to Carleton Place in the CCHL for future considerations.
Barron says Garneau came to him over the weekend and requested the trade.
“We tried to make the best situation possible. We got thrown a curveball with Garneau leaving. We did get some good futures out of that deal that can help us out down the road.”
Yarmouth then acquired forward Ryker Rougeau from Summerside, he made his debut in Sunday’s game.
“We saw today that he skates well and is a big body. He’s also only 18 years old, so we picked up a good piece for the future too.”
The Mariners also traded Michael Arsenault, who didn’t report to the team after a trade from Valley in November.
He was dealt to Edmundston for forward Noah Breau, who will arrive to the Mariners on Tuesday.
Barron says they’ll address the captaincy role early this week.
