The Nova Bantams were back in action this weekend with a pair of home games looking to maintain their position near the top of the NSMBHL standings. “The last couple of weeks, we had some difficulty in keeping our focus at key points in the games, and that proved costly on a couple of occasions,” said head coach Kyle MacDonald. “We talked about this a lot the past two weeks. We know that if we are too anxious we can take some costly bad penalties, and make a lot of poor decisions with and without the puck. We have to try to correct that if we want to maintain a high level of play!” At the Antigonish Arena on Saturday, the Novas got on the board early when Jacob Hudson scored his first of three in the game with the assist going to Fearghus MacDonald. The Barons knotted the game quickly afterwards and the game remained tied at one until late in the first when Hudson notched his second of the game assisted by Calum MacPherson. The second period saw both team have a lot of great chances with the Novas Colton Ellis standing tall and shutting the door to preserve the slim one-goal margin! The Barons scored two quick goals early in the third to take a 3-2 lead, when Hudson potted his hat-trick goal from Calum MacPherson and Ryan MacLellan to knot the game at three. From there, the Novas didn’t look back as Fearghus MacDonald (assisted by MacLellan), Lucas Fabijancic (assisted by Hudson and MacPherson), and Ryan MacLellan (assisted by Jacob Stewart) salted away the victory! On Sunday afternoon at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, the visiting Newbridge Senators jumped into a short-lived 1-0 before Logan Chisholm tied the game at 1 assisted by Chase Ellis and Lucas Fabijancic. Again on Sunday, a scoreless, fast-paced second resulted in a lot of great scoring opportunities and some timely saves from the Senators goaltender and the Novas Colton Ellis to preserve the tie. The game remained deadlocked until late in the third when Liam MacKinnon broke the tie assisted by Calum MacPherson and Fearghus MacDonald. Logan Timmons (assisted by Sean Stewart) and Jacob Hudson (assisted by Colton Ellis) fired empty net goals to seal the 4-1 victory against the always tough Senators squad. “This weekend was one where we wanted to get those last two victories before the Christmas Break, and I thought we were very sharp against two very good teams,” commented Coach MacDonald. “We have had a good first half of the season though, and the boys will enjoy the Christmas break; they have worked hard and have really shown that we are competitive with the top teams in this league. I am excited for the second half to begin in the New Year.” The Novas next see action in the New Year on the road against the Bedford Barons and the Truro Bearcats; they return to the Antigonish Arena on January 10, 2015 for a matchup against the Kings Mutual Wildcats.
GrayJay Sports
The Novas 
