Bruins mark time with a loss and a win

Roger Varley

It was no contest last Thursday when the Clarington Eagles outmatched the Uxbridge Bruins and came away with a 5-0 shutout. The league-leading Eagles, who have lost only two of the 19 games they have played so far this season, completely dominated the Bruins, firing 35 shots at goalie Robby DiMaria, while Uxbridge managed only 13 shots on goal in a penalty-filled game that saw the Bruins take 86 minutes in penalties while Clarington took 100 minutes.

However, at the arena the following night, the Bruins kept chipping away at the second-place Georgina Ice to earn a 4-3 overtime win.

Georgina opened the scoring midway through the first period when goalie Eamonn Callaghan was beaten on a penalty shot. Nolan Winter replied for the Bruins a few minutes later, assisted by Evan Gilbert and Ryan Shier. After having a goal disallowed because the net was off the pins, Georgina re-established the lead, scoring on Callaghan while he was playing with a regular hockey stick.

The second period flowed back and forth until Tom Nitsopoulos evened the score with less than two minutes remaining. Assists went to Lucas Marshall and Luke Kemp.

In the third, Georgina took the lead once again with a power-play goal, only to see Jack Kemp score Uxbridge's third equalizer of the game, assisted by Tanner Ryan.

In overtime, playing three-on-three, Ryan scored the sudden-death winner, assisted by Jordan Bonner and Luke Kemp.

The Cosmos selected Bonner as player of the game for Uxbridge, while tapping Ryan Cutler for the Ice.

The Bruins remain in sixth-place in the seven-team Orr Division with six wins and eight losses.

The Uxbridge squad returns to action tomorrow (Friday) night at the arena at 7:45 p.m., when they host their arch-rivals, the Port Perry LumberJacks.The two teams have met three times so far this season, with the LumberJacks winning all three games.