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By The Daily Gleaner

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The Fredericton Darcy Simon Canadiens and Fredericton A.L. Gullison Disaster Kleenup Caps are both undefeated after opening day action at the 29th annual Monctonian AAA Hockey Challenge ongoing at the 4-Ice Centre.

The Canadiens won their only game in the 20-team major midget division, downing the Cape Breton West Islanders 5-1.

The Caps are 2-0 in the 24-team minor midget division thanks to a pair of wins over Nova Scotia teams: 11-1 over the Cape Breton Northside Vikings and 4-2 over the Brookfield Elks.

The Canadiens fell behind the Islanders late in the first period on a power play deflection by Mike Tobin, but reeled off five unanswered goals as Seamus Bowen outduelled Kyle Ferdinand between the pipes.

Anthony Dion tied it 1-1 before the first intermission after taking a pass from Adam Jones. Fredericton's Peter Trainor and Brett Young both hit the post early in the second, but the Canadiens went ahead to stay midway through the period when Riley Dickie stepped out of the penalty box, took a long lead pass from Jones and beat Ferdinand on a breakaway.

Brett Barnhill, after a nice set up from Trainor and Paul Comeau, upped the lead to 3-1 with 3:45 left in the second. Three minutes later, Phil Fife cashed in on a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway.

Trainor snapped in a rebound on the power play 5:22 into the third, with assists going to Mathieu Martin and Comeau.

The Canadiens meet the Cornwall Thunder today at 2 p.m. and the New England Huskies at 12:30 Saturday afternoon to complete the round robin.

Ten teams -- the five division winners and five wild-card entries -- move on to the playoffs. The final is set for 3 p.m. Sunday.

The Caps rolled to a lopsided win in the morning, outshooting the Vikings 50-11. Jesse Cole scored two goals and assisted on three others while David Brewer helped out with two goals and two assists.

Justin McCarthy-Paul also scored twice while Travis Arbeau, Matt Wright, Brett Gorman and Colin Moore all had a goal and two assists. Alex Lewicki rounded out the scoring against goalie Tyler Caldwell.

Tim Morrison broke Josh LeBrun's shutout bid 36 seconds into the third period.

In the afternoon contest, the Caps outshot the Elks 43-18 with Matt Bailey notching the win and Dennis Nolan taking the loss.

Cole opened the scoring after snapping in Ben Budaker's pass 8:48 into the game, but Drew McNutt slipped in a rebound on the power play to tie it at 11:09.

After Lewicki tapped in McCarthy-Paul's pass 2:46 into the second to give the Caps a 2-1 lead, Brandon O'Brien tied it on the PP at 9:17.

The Caps struck for two late second-period goals to open up a 4-2 lead.

Moore pounced on a rebound with 2:57 left, with assists going to Lewicki and Arbeau, then Gorman and Ryan Cain perfectly executed a give-and-go shorthanded, with Gorman tucking the puck in on a deke with 23.8 seconds left in the period.

There was no scoring in the third.

The Caps wrap up the round robin tonight at 7:15 against P.E.I.'s Kings County Kings. The Kings lost 5-4 to the Elks but routed the Vikings 9-1.

There are six divisions of four teams. The six division winners, along with four wild-card entries, advance to Saturday's playoffs. The championship game is Sunday at 11:30 a.m. A win will put the Caps in the quarter finals of the event.