Trio helps N.S. team to silver medals

NEW GLASGOW – Three local hockey players have helped Nova Scotia’s Young Guns to silver medals at a recent tournament in Maine.
Forward Ian MacDonald, goaltender Wesley Kelly and defenceman Connor Boudreau were the Pictou County players selected to the team. All three completed their years in atom hockey and are moving on to the peewee division.
The Young Guns went undefeated until losing a 3-2 decision to the New Brunswick team in a game that took four overtime periods to decide.
If the Nova Scotia side ran out of steam, it was understandable. The team went with just four defencemen, two goalies and nine forwards when two members of the roster could not go.
MacDonald was the leading scorer in the six-team tournament with 16 goals. He scored seven goals in Nova Scotia’s opening 15-0 win over one of four New England teams the team faced.
“It was really fun,” MacDonald said. “We met a lot of new friends.”
Nova Scotia also posted wins by scores of 6-0, 7-2 and 8-5 against the other New England teams.
“There were some good teams and some not so good teams, but it was a high level hockey,” Kelly said.
Kelly appeared in all five games and completed two of them. He was named top goalie, while Boudreau was named top defenceman.
“I learned a lot of hockey,” Boudreau said.
All the players wished they could go back again and were reluctant to leave.
“The best thing about the whole trip was the names on the back of their hockey shirts,” said Kelly’s mother Pearl, referring to the number of opposing players who autographed them.
Games were played at facilities in Yarmouth and at the University of Maine campus in Gorham, near Portland.
The trip also included a visit to Old Orchard Beach and the Water Park in nearby Saco.