2016 TELUS Cup

12 PLAYERS HAVE POINTS TO HELP DARTMOUTH EARN FIRST WIN

DAVID BRIEN

QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Dylan Burton, Brock McLeod and Brett Thorne had a goal and two assists each to lead the Dartmouth Major Midgets to their first win at the 2016 TELUS Cup, 8-2 over the Saskatoon Contacts on Friday in the final preliminary round game for both.

The game was solely for pride, with both teams eliminated from semifinal contention on Thursday.
Dartmouth earned its first win in 11 games at Canada’s National Midget Championship, dating back to the 2002 Air Canada Cup; it lost the gold medal game that year, and went 0-4-1 in 2015.

Matthew Warner, Ryan Porter and Kyle Sexton all had a goal and an assist apiece for the Major Midgets, while captain Noah McMullin added two helpers. In all, 12 Dartmouth skaters had at least a point.

The Major Midgets got on the board 8:02 into the opening period when Sexton redirected a pass from McLeod past Saskatoon goaltender Jordan Frey, and A.J. Allain doubled the 10 minutes later, picking the top corner.

Quinton Ong cut the Saskatoon deficit to one just shy of the six-minute mark of the second, taking a pass from Justin Ball and hammering a one-timer through Dartmouth netminder Brendan Cregan.

McLeod gave Dartmouth its two-goal lead back at 11:37 on the power play, and Peter Diliberatore converted on another man-advantage opportunity at 15:48, but Carson Albrecht tapped a rebound past Cregan on a Saskatoon power play to make it a 4-2 game after 40 minutes.

The third period – the final frame of the tournament for both teams – was all Dartmouth.

Warner got things started just 16 seconds in, going upstairs on Frey, Burton made it 6-2 at 4:29, and Thorne added the Major Midgets’ third power-play goal at 14:38, finishing off a back-door feed from McLeod.

Porter capped the scoring with just 1.6 seconds to go, finishing off the largest offensive output by Dartmouth since it earned a 9-1 series-clinching victory over Pictou County on Feb. 27.

Contacts finished 0-5, becoming the first West Region champion to go winless at the TELUS Cup since the Beardy’s Blackhawks in 2001, and the first to lose all five games since the Thunder Bay Comets in 1985.