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By CHRIS FOX
For The Daily Gleaner

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If there was one lesson to be extracted from Thursday night's game between the Oromocto High School Blues and the Leo Hayes Dairy Queen Lions it was this - in the boys AAA hockey league, no lead is going to be safe.

Enlarge Photo

Stephen MacGillivray Photo

Oromocto High School Blues’ goalie Brandon Legacy manages to get Leo Hayes Dairy Queen Lions’ captain Jim Keilty’s stick off the puck in front of his net during western conference boys AAA hockey action Thursday night at Willie O’Ree Place. Keilty scored twice as the Lions won 7-6 after blowing a 6-2 lead.

Not the 2-0 advantage the Blues jumped out to early in the first period and not the 6-2 lead the Lions held midway through the second at Willie O'Ree Place.

Heck, if it weren't for some stellar goaltending from Matt Dacres late in the third period, not even a 7-6 Lions' advantage with minutes left.

"We got down 2-0 early and their goaltender was playing really well," Lions head coach Brent Grant said.

"We got back in, got up four and then they got two late and another two after that. You know if we knew why that happens it wouldn't happen, but it is high school hockey and it's just one of those things.

"It was fun to coach and we're just happy with the win."

After getting shut out 4-0 by the Lions at home a week earlier, the Blues came out a team possessed early last night. Ten minutes in Kevin Elliot stole a puck from Spencer Fry at the Lions blue line, skated in alone and slid the puck five hole on Dacres. Devon Spenser banged in a loose puck at the side of the crease minutes after that to put the Blues up two and Josh Blanchard nearly made it 3-0 soon after, blowing by Alex McTiernan, but getting stoned by Dacres on the partial breakaway.

As it turned out Blanchard awoke the sleeping Lions in the process.

First Steve Ouellette got the puck in the slot and fired a hard shot past OHS goalie Brandon Legacy to make it 2-1 late in the first, then Matt Carter got his stick on the loose puck in the crease and roofed it over a sprawling Legacy for the equalizer early in the second. Before Legacy had a chance to recover, Brandon Ferris banged a rebound in for the go-ahead goal 30 seconds later.

The barrage took a break, but it wasn't over.

With three minutes left in the second period the Lions would add three more in a one-minute span, with captain Jim Keilty scoring rebound goals on back-to-back plays and Carter getting his second on the night by tipping a Jordan Kenny shot.

A 6-2 Lions' lead late in the second period. It had to be over, right? Not exactly.

James Mitchell fed Tyler McGrath, who deked twice and backhanded a puck past Dacres with 30 seconds left, then Blanchard beat Dacres on an ugly wrist shot with four seconds left to bring the Blues within two at the end of the second period.

Early in the third the comeback continued when McGrath fired a long pass to Blanchard, who nonchalantly skated in alone, went right, brought the puck back and tucked it into the left side of the cage to make it 6-5. Five minutes later Dacres made an unsuccessful play at a loose puck and Elliot scooped it up and fired it into an empty cage to make it 6-6.

With such an offensive battle through 48 minutes, you could only imagine what kind of play would be needed to ice the game.

Turns out an ugly one.

Fry fired a hopping point shot into the back of the net with 10 minutes left, Legacy fell to the ice in disgust and the Lions played good defensive hockey for the remaining minutes to clinch the win and improve to 2-0 early in their season. The Blues fell to 1-2.

"I shot it and I didn't think it was going in," Fry said. "It was the end of my shift and I was tired and just wanted off the ice. It must have gone off one of their player or something."

The Lions return to action Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against the Woodstock High Thunder at Willie O'Ree Place, while the Blues will take on the Fredericton High School Black Kats at the LBR at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

OHS head coach Al Pollard said he's proud of his group.

"A 7-6 score against Leo Hayes is a win for us. From the sixth minute mark of the second period to the end of the game it is 4-1 for us, so every player in that dressing room is proud of what they did," he said.

High school girls

Layna Moore scored a pair of goals to lead the FHS Lady Black Kats to a 4-1 win over the OHS Scholten's Lady Blues in western conference AAA high school girls hockey action Thursday.

Shannon MacDonald and Jamie Guislain also scored for the Black Kats, who are in a tournament in St. Stephen this weekend. Taylor Dale had the lone goal for the Blues.