Nova Scotia out in men’s hockey

By Arfa Ayub, Staff Contributor

Nova Scotia’s men’s hockey run is over, at least as far as medals are concerned. It was a hard fought game for Nova Scotia, but they lost 5 – 3 against Ontario in a quarter-final match on Wednesday night at the Metro Centre.

“It was a tough loss,” said Nova Scotian starting goalie Jacob Fancy. “Similar to the Quebec game; where we lost in a shootout. I thought I made some good saves tonight but I probably would like to have a couple back. It was all bounces in the end and we ended up with the loss.”

Jeffrey Hanes got Nova Scotia on the board first, to the delight of a packed Metro Centre of about 7,000 fans. It was all Nova Scotia for the first five minutes of the game, but Ontario’s Bryson Cianfrone tied things up at one. Nova Scotia took a 2 – 1 lead after Ryan Falkenham fired a wrist into the back of the net. With Ontario’s Jordan Subban and Nicholas Ritichie sitting in the penalty box Nova Scotia capitalized on the 5-on-3 opportunity before heading into the second period.

“We were expecting it,” said Ontario’s Max Domi, who had the lone goal of the third period, referring to Nova Scotia’s strong effort and opening goal of the game. “Obviously it’s not the greatest to go down 1 – 0 but it’s not the end of the world and we came back and won the game.”

Ontario’s Jordan Subban scored on a slap shot from the point to start the second. Hunter Garlent backhand shot from in front of the crease. Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play goal made it a one goal game.

The loss means Nova Scotia will not advance to the semi-finals which take place tomorrow night.

“No matter what happened it was going to be a tough loss if we lost,” said Fancy. “We can’t advance to the medal round anymore but we can still finish fifth which is the highest Nova Scotia has ever finished in the Canada Winter Games.”