The first day of play is in the books at the 31st Monctonian AAA Challenge and the 4 ice surfaces at the Red Ball Internet Center were kept busy as 34 games were played. The 2 defending champions had very different days. The Charlottetown Islanders lost their only game to the defending Atlantic Canada Champions by a score of 5-1. As for the Mid-Isle Matrix in the Minor Division they were the victors in both of their games by scores of 4-0 and 5-1 over North West Bulls and Cumberland Ramblers respectively.
The host teams had poor results today as well. The Moncton Major Midget Flyers lost their first game of the season to the Missisaugua Senators 3-2 and the Minor Midget Flyers lost both of their contests, one to the Bedford Blues 6-0 and the other to the Calgary Minor Stamps 3-2.
All Major Division teams played 1 game today and the Cornwall Superior Thunder currently hold the #1 seed with a goals for - goals against differential of +5. The Fredricton Canadiens and the Halifax Titans are tied for 2nd with +4 differentials. In all 11 games were played and 11 more are on tap for tomorrow. The round robin wraps up Saturday at 2pm. 10 players are tied for the scoring lead with 3 points each. Day 2 is moving day as some teams face must win games to keep their hopes of claiming 1 of 10 playoff spots.
In the Minor Division 23 games were played as some teams played 2 games and others just 1. Mid-Isle, Bedford Blues, Saint John Phantoms and the Cape Breton West Eagles are in the driver seat of their respective divisions with 2 wins - 4 points each. Where this division gets interesting is in Group C as the Kenn Valley Spartans and the Charlottetown Abbies tied each other at 4 and both sit atop their division with 3 points. Currently Charlottetown has a 1 goal advantage in the tie breaker. In Group A the Calgary Stamps and Bedford Blues are undefeated. Calgary has 2 games remaining and Bedford just 1 against the Stamps. Noah Popwell leads all scorers with 6 points in 2 games. Zack Finlay from the Calgary Minor Bruins had a 5 point effort in their lone game, a 6-1 victory over Sydney Steelers. The round robin finishes up tomorrow night and the 7 division winners plus the 3 next best teams advance to the playoff round which starts Saturday Morning.
Stay tuned for further updates tomorrow.
- Mike Lord
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