Ramblers rout Crushers

NEW?GLASGOW?- The Amherst Ramblers came out of the gates with all cylinders firing during Maritime Junior A Hockey action last night against the Pictou County Weeks Crushers.
Ramblers sophomore Jordan Escott, who just this week turned down overtures to play in the Quebec major junior league, had a monster night, scoring four goals in a Ramblers 9-4 victory.
"The puck found Jordan's stick tonight but it was a total team effort tonight, everybody from the goaltender on out contributed," Ramblers coach Corey Crocker said. "We banged in a couple early and things went our way."
The Ramblers got the game going just 16 seconds in when Eric Boudreau scored the Ramblers first goal of the regular season off an assist from Matt Boland.
Just one minute later, the Crushers' Robbie Little came back to tie the game up at 1-1 but from there it was all Ramblers.
The Ramblers took a 4-1 lead by the end of the first period off goals from Escott, Adam Verrette and Travis Turner.
Amherst didn't let up in the second.
At 1:10 into the period, Escott scored his second of the night off a pass from Boudreau.
At the 9:35 mark, Escott stepped up again and scored his third goal of the night with assists coming from Turner and Boudreau.
With the score sitting at 6-1, the Crushers came back and cut the Ramblers lead in half with goals from Geoff Hum and Ryan Fortune. But the Ramblers refused to show any mercy.
Squires scored 15:00 into the period off an assist from Verrette and at the 17:29 mark, Verrette scored off assists from Andrew Shears and Squires.
The third period went scoreless until the 17:59 mark when Escott scored his fourth goal of the night.
The Crushers' Ryan Fortune added a marker with 40 seconds left in the game.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at Amherst Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.
Everyone who attended the Rambler hockey school who wears their jersey to the game will get in free and they can pick up their hockey school slide show, which is on disc.
The team is also giving away tickets to Cumberland North, Spring Street Academy and West Highland elementary schools tomorrow and students can come in for free with a ticket accompanied by a parent.

dmathieson@amherstdaily.com