B3

By The Daily Gleaner

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The Fredericton Darcy Simon Canadiens and Fredericton A.L. Gullison Disaster Kleenup Caps are still undefeated heading into today's play at the 29th annual Monctonian AAA Hockey Challenge ongoing at the 4-Ice Centre.

The Canadiens improved to 2-0 with a 3-2 victory over P.E.I.'s Cornwall Thunder in the 20-team major midget division while the Caps beat P.E.I.'s Kings County Kings 5-2 to finish second overall in the 24-team minor midget division with a 3-0 record. The Canadiens will meet the New England Huskies at 12:30 this afternoon to determine first place in their division. The Huskies are also 2-0.

The Caps advance directly to the quarter-final round at 2:15 today against the highest survivor of this morning's wild-card playoff games between teams finishing seventh to 10th.

The Canadiens fell behind Cornwall 1-0 on a goal by Devan Gunn with 2:15 left in the second period. Peter Trainor, assisted by Paul Comeau and Brett Barnhill, tied it 81 seconds into the third. Evan Carmody beat Zack Daigle to put the Thunder back on top just 1:19 later, but the Canadiens rallied with two late goals.

Riley Dickie, set up by Thomas Daley tied it 2-2 with 4:52 remaining, then Trainor beat Dylan McQuaid for the winner with 1:29 to play. Barnhill and Comeau had the assists.

The major midget final goes Sunday at 3 p.m.

The Caps fell behind 2-0 just 4:38 into the game when Peter MacLeod and Morgan Mooney scored 19 seconds apart. Colin Moore cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play at 6:07, snapping a rebound by John McIntosh after being set up by Matt Wright and Brett Gorman. Wright, also on the PP, tied it with another rebound goal at 12:05.

Alex Lewicki put the Caps up 3-2 just 80 seconds later by converting a pass from Moore. Gorman also picked up an assist on the play.

After a scoreless second period, Aiden Hallihan notched the insurance goal with 11:44 remaining. He backhanded a rebound past McIntosh, with assists going to Jesse Cole and David Brewer. After several big stops by Josh LeBrun -- the Caps were outshot 28-23 overall -- Brewer set up Cole for the final goal with 45.7 seconds remaining.

The championship game is Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

The Caps and three P.E.I. teams -- Charlottetown, Mid-Isle and Sherwood -- all finished with 3-0 records. Charlottetown was 13 in goals for and against to clinch first overall while the Caps were second at 12. Mid-Isle was 11 and Sherwood was 8.

Peewee AAA

The Fredericton Sunbury Transport Peewee AAA Canadiens tied the Nova Scotia league-leading Cole Harbour Wings 2-2 in their tournament opener and then fell 4-2 to the Bedford Blues to complete opening day action at the Bluewave Energy Peewee AAA tournament in Dartmouth, N.S. Friday.

In their opener, the Habs rallied from a 2-0 deficit as Marlcolm Arseneau scored a pair of quick ones with less than three minutes left, with Matt McInnis drawing assists on both goals. Goaltender Josh Simpson was player of the game for the Canadiens.

Simpson and Jeremy Wasson shared the goaltending in the loss to the Blues. Canadiens outshot the Blues 28-15, butt only Daniel Bertrand, the Game MVP for the Canadiens, and Patrick Thompson, could manage goals. Canadiens face the Sydney Steelers and South Shore Remparts of Nova Scotia in games today.

The Monctonian is one of the largest tournament s in Eastern Canada. Some 150 junior and prep school scouts are in attendance at the event.i

Early Bird Ringette

The Fredericton Early Bird Ringette tournament took to the ice, with 24 games played on opening night. In local action, in Tween play, Fredericton (Peter) beat Riverview 8-1, while in the Petite Division, Fredericton Green rolled over Riverview 9-2. Other games saw Moncton beat Fredericton (Kevin) 5-1 in U-10 action, Shediac Cap-Pele top Fredericton (Mark) 8-1, Moncton beat Fredericton Mario 11-10 in U-12 action;; Kent Sud beat Fredericton Angela Fredericton Joel beat 8-1, Dieppe Junior beat the Fredericton Juniors 8-2 and the Dieppe Belles bat the Fredericton Belles 7-5. Tournament action continues all day Saturday and Sunday at arenas throughout the city, with the finals in the various divisions beginning Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and continuing all afternoon at Willie O'Ree Place.