The third month of the season begins tonight in New Glasgow as the Pictou County Weeks Crushers (2-9-2-2) are home to the Eastlink North Division-leading Summerside Western Capitals (12-3-0-0) in a game that will be available on Eastlink Community TV on channel 610/10 as well as HockeyTV. The Crushers returned to the win column last weekend with a 5-4 road victory over South Shore (6-7-2-0). For the Caps, their scoring prowess was on display once again in a 6-2 win over St. Stephen (7-8-1-0) and 5-2 win against Grand Falls (4-8-1-0). Summerside also announced this week the addition of Sullivan Sparkes from the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders. The 19-year-old has 172 games of CHL experience, with one and a half seasons on the island and two and a half seasons with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, with 21 goals and 29 assists.
Four games are on tap Friday, with Ramblers (11-4-0-0) on the road against the Aces. Their previous meeting in Amherst was a 4-2 win for the home side. The Ramblers are looking to continue their climb to the top of the standings following a 7-3-0-0 month of October. Eastlink South Division-leading Yarmouth (12-3-0-1) travels to Valley (3-8-3-0). The Mariners have a three point lead over Amherst and Truro (10-3-1-1) in the division, and have collected five of a possible six points in three meetings against the Wildcats this season. Miramichi (7-6-2-0) is on the road against South Shore in the first game of a Nova Scotia road trip for the Timberwolves. Finally, Grand Falls and Edmundston (7-7-1-0) meet for the fourth time this season, this time back at the E. & P. Sénéchal Centre.
The MHL Game of the Week on HockeyTV is Saturday, featuring the Lumberjacks on the road to play Valley. This is the second game of the newly announced West Nova Scotia Regiment Challenge Cup, awarded to whoever wins the season series between them. There are four other games on the schedule. Pictou County have their hands full as they head to Truro to battle a Bearcats squad that are 7-0-1-1 in their last nine games. The Aces and Western Capitals square off in Summerside. After taking the first meeting, the Caps have won the last three matchups. Elsewhere, Amherst and Edmundston meet at Centre Jean Daigle, and Miramichi travel to Yarmouth.
Sunday features three games as Amherst wrap up their stretch of three games in three days in St. Stephen, Campbellton (8-4-0-2) get their only action of the week in against Edmundston, who are also playing three games in three days. The Tigers sit in second place in the North, six points back of Summerside, but with just three points separating them from the fifth place Aces entering this week. Then we have Valley home to Truro. These teams played in the Bearcats home opener, where the Wildcats dropped a 3-1 decision.
All games are available on HockeyTV.
| Date | Visiting | Home | Venue | Time |
| Thu, Nov 1 | Summerside | Pictou County | Pictou County Wellness Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Fri, Nov 2 | Amherst | St. Stephen | Garcelon Civic Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Fri, Nov 2 | Yarmouth | Valley | Kings Mutual Century Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Fri, Nov 2 | Miramichi | South Shore | Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Fri, Nov 2 | Edmundston | Grand Falls | E. & P. Sénéchal Centre | 7:30 PM |
| Sat, Nov 3 | South Shore | Valley | Kings Mutual Century Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Sat, Nov 3 | Pictou County | Truro | Rath Eastlink Community Centre | 7:00 PM |
| Sat, Nov 3 | St. Stephen | Summerside | Credit Union Place | 7:00 PM |
| Sat, Nov 3 | Amherst | Edmundston | Centre Jean Daigle | 7:30 PM |
| Sat, Nov 3 | Miramichi | Yarmouth | Mariners Centre | 7:30 PM |
| Sun, Nov 4 | Amherst | Grand Falls | E. & P. Sénéchal Centre | 3:00 PM |
| Sun, Nov 4 | Campbellton | Edmundston | Centre Jean Daigle | 3:00 PM |
| Sun, Nov 4 | Truro | Valley | Kings Mutual Century Centre | 7:00 PM |
Statistically Speaking
We’re two months into the season and a few interesting streaks are going right now. Summerside’s Kallum Muirhead has a five game goal streak, which is the longest in the MHL this season. He’s scored eight goals in total over that stretch. Walker Campbell in Miramichi scored twice against Truro last weekend to extend his goal streak to three.
The league’s leading scorer and Muirhead’s teammate TJ Shea currently has an eight game assist streak in which he’s racked up 12 in total. The next highest active assist streak is owned by Landon Quinney of Valley at five games.
For overall points, Shea, Summerside’s Brodie MacArthur, and Valley’s Matt Warner all have eight game streaks which are active.
Looking at teams, the Edmundston Blizzard have had a really interesting season to date. At 7-7-1-0, they’ve been the very definition of a team around .500. Apart from back to back losses to Truro and Summerside in October, the Blizzard have alternated wins and losses from game to game. Their longest winning streak? One. We’ll see if that changes this weekend with three games in three days.