Host Team Amherst Jr A Ramblers
Road to the Fred Page Cup
Lost 4-3 to South Shore Lumberjacks in Division Semi-Final
Awarded Fred Page Cup berth as Tournament Hosts
AMHERST, N.S. –
After finishing second in the Eastlink South Division, the Amherst Ramblers fell in seven games in the opening round of the Canadian Tire Cup Playoffs to the South Shore Lumberjacks for the second straight season.
This is the first-ever appearance for the Amherst Ramblers in the Fred Page Cup. The town previously hosted the 1193 Centennial Cup (Now a National Junior A Championship) where Amherst lost to the Chateauguay Elites in the semi-finals.
During the regular season, goaltender Matt Williams posted the forth-best goals against average in the MHL at 2.51 to go along with a 24-7-1-2 record, 924 save percentage, and four shutouts.
The top scorer for Amherst in the regular season was Caleb Rich, who posted 22 goals and 32 assists to place him 16th overall.
Despite only seven playoff games. Matt Green finished tied for fourth in playoff goals with eight. He added four assists in that first round match up against South Shore.
Yarmouth enters Fred Page Cup on a roll
The Yarmouth Mariners went 12-2 in the playoffs to claim the inaugural Canadian Tire Cup as champions of the Maritime Junior Hockey League. This is coach Laurie Barron’s third time as a coach at the Fred Page Cup, but his first as head coach.
AMHERST, N.S. —
Laurie Barron is hoping the third time is the charm.
Barron, a former Amherst Ramblers player, is coming back to Amherst behind the bench with the Yarmouth Mariners as the MHL champions at the Fred Page Cup.
The Mariners clinched the league title, their first in a decade, with a four-game sweep of the Campbellton Tigers in the Canadian Tire Cup final on April 19.
“We have a nice mix of veteran presence and younger players who bring a lot of energy,” Barron said. “We’re hard on the forecheck and I think we play a pretty upbeat style.”
While the Mariners had a bit of a break before the Fred Page Cup, Barron said he sees his club continuing its momentum into the Fred Page Cup.
“I’ve been coaching a long time, but this is probably the team that had the best group of kids, they really care about each other. It’s all about we and not about me,” he said. “It’s a good group and they’re fun to coach.”
Barron said every game in the Fred Page Cup is important and he’s not prepared to take any team for granted. The biggest thing he said is avoiding the league championship hangover that sometimes affects teams heading into the tournament.
“We’re going to be ready to go. We want to end this season on a good note and take a run at it,” Barron said.
Offensively, the Mariners were led by Matt Barron, who had 31 goals and 41 assists for 72 points, while Brett Crossley had 24 goals and 38 assists for 62 points and Andrew Martell had 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points.
Martell, Barron, Brent Broaders, Crossley and Logan Timmons led the way in the playoffs offensively as the Mariners only lost two games.
Defensively, the club has a veteran presence with Chris Goreham, Derrick Johnson (who had 10 goals and 31 points from the point), Noah McMullin and Shawn Guison while rookie Tyler Caseley’s 2.55 goals against average and 25-7-2 record during the season was among the best in the league.
“We have a lot of depth. On any given night it could be two or three guys and the next night it could be two or three other guys. If you’re going to come after us you can’t just focus on one line, it’s pretty spread out,” Barron said. “We have a lot of depth.”
Yarmouth opens Wednesday against Princeville at 3 p.m. and plays the Ramblers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before concluding round robin action at 3 p.m. Friday against Ottawa.
Junior Senators come to Fred Page Cup as defending champions
After hosting and winning the 2018 Fred Page Cup, no one expected the Ottawa Junior Senators to be in the hunt for the Central Canada Hockey League title in 2019. Someone didn’t tell the Senators, who knocked off their arch rivals, the Carleton Place Canadians, for the second consecutive year to win the right to come to the Fred Page Cup in Amherst.
OTTAWA, Ont. —
The Ottawa Junior Senators are getting used to being at the Fred Page Cup.
For the second consecutive year, the Junior Senators will be at the eastern Canadian Junior A hockey championship. Unlike last year, when they were the host team, Ottawa comes to Amherst not only as the Central Canada Hockey League champs but also the defending Fred Page Cup champions – after a 10-1 win over Longueil on home ice last May.
“We’re a fast hockey club, hard on pucks and play a structured game,” head coach Martin Dagenais said. “We’re hard to play against, especially in our defensive zone. If you want to score five goals against us, you’re going to have to outwork us.”
Dagenais said he really didn’t expect to be back at the Fred Page Cup this year after only returning seven players from last year’s championship club and starting the season 1-4. He said he has never coached a team at the junior level that progressed as fast as it did.
Ottawa won its last eight regular season games and then went 12-2 in the playoffs before knocking off perennial CCHL powerhouse and cross-city rival the Carleton Place Canadians to claim its second consecutive league title.
It’s the fourth consecutive season Ottawa and Carleton Place played in the final. Carleton Place won the first two and Ottawa the last two.
“We’re playing good hockey right now,” he said.
Ottawa was led during the regular season by Darcy Walsh and Elie Boulerice, who each had 64 points, while Owen Cole had 61 and rookie Kyle Jackson had 54. Jackson added 13 playoff points and Cole chipped in 12.
Noah Rowe led the defensive corps with 43 points and Adrien Bisson had 28.
It’s in goal where the Junior Senators are potent. In the playoffs, Francis Boisvert had 1.46 goals against average and .945 save percentage while going 12-2. During the regular season, he was 31-11-0 with 2.19 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
Ottawa opens Wednesday against the host Ramblers at 7:30 p.m. before playing Princeville on Thursday at 3 p.m. and against Yarmouth on Friday at 3 p.m.
Titan coming to Amherst with goal of winning it all
The Princeville Titan are representing the Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League at the Fred Page Cup following a 7-3 win over the Terrebonne Cobras to claim their championship series in five games.
PRINCEVILLE, Que. —
The Princeville Titan are giant killers.
Following the 2019 Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League regular season, the Titan placed third in the 12-team loop – four points behind the Terrebonne Cobras.
The club got hot when it counted rolling through the playoffs and defeating the Cobras in five games in the best-of-seven final series to culminate a 16-5-1 playoff record.
“We have a good team with no holes,” head coach Guillaume St-Denis said. “We’re good in goal, we have seven good defenseman and three lines that can all score goals.
“We have team that’s fun to watch. We can score goals, block shots and do whatever it takes to win.”
St-Denis, who is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Titan, is very confident of his club’s chances coming into the Fred Page Cup. The Titan were an offensive powerhouse scoring 267 goals during the regular season while giving up 181.
The club was led by Matthew Newbury’s 102 points while Marc-Eric Bourque had 89 points and William Bergeron had 83. Newbury scored 45 goals in 48 games while Alex Plamondon scored 44 goals in 34 games.
Philippe Gaudreault and Mathieu Bellemare share the goaltending duties.
“We finished third in the regular season, but we had a lot of injuries earlier in the season. If we had stayed healthy, we would’ve finished first,” St-Denis said. “Once we got healthy, we showed how good we can be. Right now, we feel good, we’re healthy and we’re playing well. I think we have the team to win the Fred Page Cup.”
The Titan open the tournament at 3 p.m. on Wednesday against the Yarmouth Mariners, Ottawa on Thursday afternoon and against Amherst on Friday at 7:30 p.m.