Johnston hat trick leads Junior Miners to win over high-flying Blazers

Mitchell Johnston scored three second period goals to lead the Kameron Junior Miners to a 5-3 victory over the Sackville Blazers in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League action on Saturday at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre.

The Miners, who now sit atop the Sid Rowe Division, found themselves down 2-0 halfway through the game after the Blazers surged ahead on goals by Patrick Oxner and Nick Cullen.

Cue the comeback.

Johnston then knotted the contest with a pair of goals before Cameron Yates put the Miners ahead for good. Johnston then completed his hat trick as the Miners struck for three goals in less than one minute.

The team’s traded goals in the third period with Regan McDonald scoring for Sackville and Dylan Morley finding the empty net to secure the victory over the Blazers who lost in regulation for the first time this season.

Thanks to a 21-4 margin in the third period, the Blazers outshot the Miners 39-29. Kaine Drake was the winning goalie, while Jonathan Pickrem was the losing netminder.

In other NSJHL action, a third period rally by the Eskasoni Junior Eagles (3-8-1-0) fell just short as they lost 6-5 to the Blazers (12-1-2-0) in a late afternoon tilt. Six different players scored for Sackville, while Thomas Simon had a hat trick for Eskasoni. The other Eagles goal scorers were Ben Gillis and Andrew Johnson. The Strait Pirates (7-3-1-2) were scheduled to host the Pictou County Scotians (4-7-0-1) on Sunday evening.

Cape Breton Post