Bruins split weekend games with a win and a loss
Roger Varley
A stellar performance by rookie goaltender Eamon Callaghan led the Uxbridge Bruins to a 4-0 victory over the Little Britain Merchants at the arena on Friday. Callaghan turned aside 34 shots on his way to the shut-out.
The game-winning goal came less than a minute into the game when Jake Rigillo found the back of the net, with assists going to captain Tanner Ryan and Jack Kemp. As the first period wound down, Ryan Shier made it 2-0 on a power play, assisted by Ryan and newcomer Hayden Anderson. Ryan topped off the period with a goal after skating in alone on the Little Britain net. Evan Gilbert and Rigillo assisted.
The second period was relatively quiet, with no scoring and only two penalties handed out.
Early in the third, the Bruins survived a two-man disadvantage of one minute and 18 seconds and then rounded out the game with a power-play goal by Tyler Laita with six minutes remaining. Gilbert and Lucas Marshall were credited with assists.
It was the first win of the season for the Bruins. The Cosmos selected Callaghan as player of the game for the Uxbridge squad and Nathan Twohey for the Merchants.
However, the Bruins failed to build on the win when they visited Scugog on Sunday and were edged by the Port Perry LumberJacks. With Callaghan in the net again, the LumberJacks scored near the midway mark of the first period on a two-on-one rush.
Late in the second period, Port Perry notched a short-handed goal and followed that up with a power-play marker with just two minutes left in the stanza. That led to a melee on the ice, with officials handing out a total of 13 penalties, including seven game misconducts. After the officials had things sorted out, the Bruins caught the LumberJacks by surprise and scored two short-handed goals in the span of 25 seconds. Jack Kemp scored the first, assisted by Shier, and Gilbert made it 3-2 with 40 seconds remaining. Gilbert's goal came after Ryan dived along the ice to poke the puck off a LumberJack stick, allowing Gilbert to pick it up.
Port Perry scored another goal early in the third but Anderson responded with an unassisted marker a couple of minutes later. The LumberJacks restored the two-goal lead near the midway mark when Andrew Naccarato-Soule stole the puck off an Uxbridge defenceman at the Port Perry blue line and skated in alone on Callaghan. The Bruins were not finished yet, as Shier scored on a power-play, assisted by Jordan Bonner. With the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Anton Kolluru prevented Port Perry from scoring an empty-netter by making a head-long dive on the ice to divert the puck, but it was too little, too late and the LumberJacks held on for the win.
The Bruins face a busy weekend. They travel to Clarington tonight (Thursday) to face the undefeated Eagles, play host to the Schomberg Cougars at the arena tomorrow (Friday) at 7:45 p.m. (Schomberg is already the most penalized team in the PJHL), and then return to Port Perry on Sunday for a 3:25 p.m., game.
Bear pause: There are a couple of officiating changes this season. On face-offs at centre ice, the puck is now dropped by a linesman, not a referee. And when teams have offsetting penalties, the two sides play four-on-four hockey, not five-and-five.