Caribous Cling to First

Fresh off their win on Saturday night the Clarenville Caribous headed into Sunday’s action with a short bench as injuries and work commitments kept some of their players from the lineup.  The Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts were looking to pull to within one point of the Caribous with a victory and started out quickly as Cam Fergus scored at the 4:21 mark of the first period on a goal assisted by Andre Gill and Collin Circelli.  Teammate Luke Gallant scored on the power play at 14:33 to give his team a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room after the first period.

The Cataracts extended their lead in the second period.  Michael Cole and Mike Sibley both scored to make it 4-0 after 2 periods of play.  In the third period, Mitchell Oake spoiled the Cataracts shutout scoring at the 17:29 mark of the third period to make the final score 4-1.

Despite the loss, Jason Churchill played amazing in net, facing 45 shots.  AJ Whiffen rebounded from a poor showing the previous night, stopping all but 1 of the 27 shots he faced.

With the win, the Cataracts pull to within 1 point of first place, trailing the Caribous in the standings who managed to cling to first place after the weekend series.  However, with injuries and player commitments in the last 2 series the Clarenville team has played with a short bench and it is obvious that the team is showing signs of fatigue, especially on their back-end where their top defensemen are out.