ANTIGONISH: It was an up and down weekend for the Nova Major Bantams.
On Saturday afternoon, the Novas doubled the Pro Hockey Life Storm 8-4 at the Antigonish Arena.
Ray MacKinnon and Tyler Peddle managed two goals and three assists each, while Grant Tully, Marcus Pelly-Conrad, Kevin Walker, and Riley Sampson each had a goal.
Coach Jamie Mattie said his charges didn’t start off well and ended up falling behind in the first 10 minutes. The Nova scored around two minutes later and the Storm weren’t able to respond until the third period. The Novas led 2-1 after the first and 5-1 after the second. The Storm scored first in the third but three more Novas goals landed before the Storm were able to add to their tally.
“Overall it was a good effort and it was nice to see scoring from different areas of the team and it’s nice to see some guys score who normally don’t get on the score sheet too often,” he said.
On Sunday, the Novas fell behind 2-0 early in the first period and weren’t able to retake control of the game, eventually falling 4-1 to the Truro Bearcats.
“I believe they scored on their first shift and got another one five minutes later,” he said, adding it was 4-0 at the end of the second period. “It’s a good example that we have to start games. I believe the effort was there from the players but unfortunately we didn’t get the result that we wanted.”
The team is now focusing on the Monctonian Tournament, which kicks off Thursday against the Prince County Warriors from PEI. Later the same day, they will take on Saint John before playing the Joneljim Cougars from Sydney.
Mattie added with his calibre of players, they are going in with the knowledge they can compete for the title.
