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Bears and Mustangs remain undefeated in highschool hockey

The St. Benedict Bears and Manitoulin Mustangs entered their head to head boys hockey matchup on Tuesday representing two of the remaining three unbeaten teams in the 10-team SDSSAA loop this year. They exited the contest exactly the same way.
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The St. Charles Cardinals and Lockerby Vikings will meet in the NOSSA boys hockey gold medal game this evening. File photo.
The St. Benedict Bears and Manitoulin Mustangs entered their head to head boys hockey matchup on Tuesday representing two of the remaining three unbeaten teams in the 10-team SDSSAA loop this year.

They exited the contest exactly the same way.

A power-play goal by Eric Roussel with just 2:02 to play lifted the Bears to a 4-4 tie with the Mustangs, allowing both squads to maintain a zero in their loss column.

Manitoulin jumped out to a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period, with Matt Craig pulling the trigger twice for the visitors, while Alex Smith and Thomas Hayden (2nd period) rounded out the scoring.

Joining Roussel on the scoresheet for St. Benedict were Ian Thom, Alex Yeomans and Waylon Naponse. Though the contest featured a grand total of just eight minutes in penalties, both teams managed to do some damage with the man advantage, as Manitoulin outshot the homeside 30-25.

The Mustangs, showing the way in league standings with a record of 2-0-2, were without the services of Justice Corbière, the smooth-skating forward who scored four times in their big win over the Confederation Chargers a couple of weeks back.

Meanwhile, after surprising the Lockerby Vikings with a 3-2 victory last week, the Bears were ready for a second straight tough matchup.

"We knew coming in that Manitoulin was going to be a strong team," said co-captain Cameron Keenan.

"They've had quite a few wins this year. We wanted to work them hard in the corners, play the game we know."

St. Benedict will again enjoy the luxury of playing a number of their home games, this season, on the large ice surfaces of the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, much to the delight of Keenan and his mates.

"We have quite a bit of speed on our team, so having a big ice like that allows our guys to break out wide," said Keenan. "It's a benefit for our team, I think."

Though it is still very early into the 2015-2016 campaign, St. Benedict appears to be one of a handful of teams meddled in the middle of a closely-matched league, with Keenan stating his preference about whether he wants to start the second half in the Division "A" (top five) or Division "B" (bottom five) grouping.

"Either way, we're pretty much on the fence right now," said Keenan. "But I think once we get our team chemistry going, we can prove that we can be successful in the "A" Division, just like Confed or St Charles."

Yet another critical encounter tonight as the Lockerby Vikings, off to a surprisingly slow 0-2-0 start with losses to Confederation and St. Benedict, will look to snap their skid facing the St. Charles College Cardinals at 8:30 p.m. at the T.M. Davies Community Centre in Walden.

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