Patriots score six in a row in win over Mitchell

MITCHELL – The Mount Forest Patriots connected for six consecutive goals to claim their fourth consecutive victory in Provincial Junior Hockey League play as they dropped the Mitchell Hawks 7-2 Sunday at the Mitchell arena.

The Patriots and Hawks were tied 1-1 at the end of the first period before Mount Forest jumped ahead 5-1 by the end of the second.

Brody Leblanc struck for a hat trick and also had two assists for the Patriots. He leads the league with 20 goals and 20 assists.

Connor Paige, Austin Griffin, Jaxon Gawel and Devan Doig added a goal apiece while Matt McLellan had three assists and Owen Tovell had two. Getting one assist each were Griffin, Jared Rowe, Will Lewis, Aaron McGuirk and Matthew Weiler.

Nolan Gagnier and Ben Fizell tallied for Mitchell while Hayden Hessel, Ethan Pearce and Dawson Dietz each had an assist.

The Patriots, who outshot the Hawks 29-18 in the first two periods finished with a 38-36 advantage. Mount Forest went 1-for-4 on its power play while Mitchell went 1-for-3.

Michael Purkhart had 34 saves for Mount Forest while Joshua Jacklin had 31 for Mitchell.

Hanover Barons lead the Pollock Division at 12-0-0-1 while the Kincardine Bulldogs are second at 10-3-1-2 and the Patriots are third at 10-4-1-0. They’re followed by the Walkerton Capitals at 8-5-1-0, Wingham Ironmen at 6-9-1-0, Mitchell at 5-8-2-0, Fergus Whalers at 3-8-2-2 and Goderich Flyers at 2-11-0-1.

The Patriots are to host Fergus Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex and they’re to play the Flyers at Goderich Saturday at 8 p.m.

• Guelph Sports Journal