A hard-hitting, fast-paced game with a heavyweight fight.
It may have had something to do with the fact Don Cherry of Coach’s Corner Book was in the house.
The Corner Brook Royals, with Cherry and Ron MacLean doing a live broadcast of Coach’s Corner for Hockey Night in Canada in the backdrop of the Corner Brook Civic Centre, eked out a 3-1 victory over the Stephenville Jets in West Coast Senior Hockey League play Saturday night in conjunction with the 2018 Hockey Day in Canada celebrations.
Dawson Drake scored the for the Jets with 51 seconds left in the opening period, going through a number of players in a solo rush that saw him deke Brad Dyke and slide the puck over the line to provide the only scoring play in the first period in a game that saw a number of thunderous hits before a sellout crowd that saw some lucky person going home with over $5,000 in cash for the 50-50 draw at the game.
Cherry and MacLean weren’t long into their Coach’s Corner segment when the third period opened up on a positive note for the Royals as Josh Taylor scored a pretty goal on a nice setup from Ryan Meade and Jeremy Bishop at 1:19 and Tyler Hunt gave the Royals a two-goal cushion 96 seconds later with Matt Lundrigan and Alex Hiller provided the support on the goal.
Taylor scored his second goal of the game at 11:36 to seal the deal for the Royals, who who were denied on dozens of chances from close range by Jets puckstopper Billy Clarke, who even stopped a shot with his head to keep his time close in the early going.
With under nine minutes to go, Lundrigan of the Royals and Sheldon MacIsaac of the Jets brought the crowd to their feet with a spirited fight that saw both players get in a few heavy blows before the officials got the tilt under control.
The Royals wrapped up the weekend with a split, losing one night earlier to the Deer Lake Red Wings by a 4-2 count with the Red Wings clinching the win with an empty-netter in the dying stages of a game played at the Hodder Memorial Recreation Complex.
Ryan Penney and Luke Parsons had a goal and an assist to lead the charge for the Red Wings who hold down sole possession of first place in the West Coast Senior Hockey League.
