Canadiens win Game 1

LAKESHORE – Game 1 of the Provincial Junior Hockey League Stobbs Division best-of-seven quarter-final series between the Blenheim Blades and the Lakeshore Canadiens is in the books with Lakeshore taking the opener 5-1 Tuesday night in Lakeshore.

The two teams will be right back at it Thursday and Friday with Game 2 in Blenheim Thursday and Game 3 back in Lakeshore Friday. Both games start at 7 p.m.

The Blades were shorthanded with four regulars out with injuries – Jaxon Boucher, Sam McKinlay, Connor Wright and Nick Tetreault. Ian Campbell, younger brother of Blades forward Malcolm Campbell, was called up for the game.

Lakeshore opened the scoring with the game just over a minute and a half old when Blake Bain put a shot past Blades netminder Chris DeWulf.

The Canadiens added two more in the second period with Tycen Chittle scoring on a powerplay at 4:07, and Matt Smith netting an even-strength goal at 8:09.

Luke Mesic made it 4-0 at 6:17 of the final 20 minutes, and Jake Nimmo upped the lead to 5-0 with a powerplay tally at 14:49.

Seth Henderson finally got the Blades on the board at 15:27 when he scored a powerplay marker with assists going to Sebastian Stubberfield and Darcy Lemieux.

BLADES BITS: Former Blade Brendan Ritchie had three assists for the Canadiens…The lost was the fifth in a row for Blenheim who have not won since beating Wallaceburg 11-1 January 19…The Blades were one-for-two on the powerplay while the Canadiens went 0-2…Lakeshore outshot Blenheim 35-18…In other Stobbs Division playoff action the Wheatley Sharks won the first game of their series with the Essex ‘’73s 2-1 in double overtime…Wednesday night the other two best-of-seven quarter-final series begin with the Dresden Kings in Mooretown to play the Flags, and the Petrolia Flyers in Amherstburg to take on the Admirals…Game 2 of the Essex-Wheatley series will also be played Wednesday night in Wheatley…Attendance was 386