NAHL Day 27/28 - Isca Town opens seven-point lead

Colorful houses in Summerside, a PEI vacation town, image credit to Pinterest

Over two games, Isca Town stretches their lead, Pons Aelius ties DC, and Londinium and Eboracum are scrapping for fourth.

Day 27

DC Oilers 5, Newfield Rangers 4

Portus Abonae Privateers 0, Isca Town Captains 0 (0-1 OT)

Sept Iles Whalers 1, Vinovium Lumberjacks 0

Eboracum Sharpshooters 4, Londinium Royals 4 (4-5 OT)

Mancunium Raiders 0, Labrador Caribou 2

Aquae Sulis Bears 0, Pons Aelius Steelers 0 (0-1 OT)

Day 28

Newfield Rangers 0, Pons Aelius Steelers 0 (0-1 OT)

Labrador Caribou 3, Aquae Sulis Bears 5

Londinium Royals 1, Mancunium Raiders 4

Vinovium Lumberjacks 3, Eboracum Sharpshooters 4

Isca Town Captains 1, Sept-Iles Whalers 0

DC Oilers 3, Portus Abonae Privateers 4

Two-day summary

Isca Town maintains its spot in first through an overtime win over Portus Abonae, then getting revenge for Sept-Iles' defeat of them last time out, both 1-0 victories. Shaun Webster scored in overtime, while Robbie Reid was the lone goal-scorer in the Captains' defeat of the Whalers. They now have a seven point lead over DC and Pons Aelius and will face Eboracum next.

Pons Aelius faced two teams in the middle and lower portions of the standings, and came away with two wins, albeit much more difficult than expected. Both Aquae Sulis and Newfield took the Steelers to overtime before Nate Fuller and Brooks Worrell scored to lift the Steelers to victory. The Steelers and Captains' defensive records are impressive; both have allowed fewer than twenty goals, while the next best defensive team, Londinium, has allowed 44. The Oilers escaped Newfield thanks in no small part to four goals from Owen Jones, Sammy Jensen, and Julian Stephens. However, they fell to Portus Abonae on a late goal from Mike Henry; this loss, with the Steelers' win, tied the two teams at 42 points. DC continues to lead the league in offense, but their defense has slipped to sixth in the league.

Londinium and Eboracum are battling it out for the final playoff spot at the moment. The Royals beat the Sharpshooters for the third time (previous wins of 2-1 and 4-4 (3-0 SO)), this time 5-4 in OT. Ben Malone scored the winning goal for Londinium, and that win represents the one-point difference between the two teams right now. Eboracum will have to beat Londinium sometime if they expect to make the playoffs. But in the other game, Eboracum took care of business against a tougher than expected Lumberjacks team, getting two points on the road, while the Royals got walloped at home by a Raiders team that had, in fairness, just knocked off Pons Aelius two games ago. Royals head coach Paul Bowman attributed the loss to "poor preparation" and said they'd be more than ready for Aquae Sulis next.

Speaking of the Bears, they knocked off the sixth-place Labrador Caribou 5-3 after succumbing to Pons Aelius in overtime. The Caribou had polished off Mancunium 2-0 in the Labrador rivalry, breaking their six-game losing streak and winning for just the second time in ten games. But Darin Drake and Nick May scored twice each in Labrador to give the Bears the win. They're still languishing in tenth place, but three points in two games is a good result for them. As for Labrador, they'll take any points they can get as they try to stay in the playoff race and ahead of surging Sept-Iles and Portus Abonae, who sit one and two points behind them, respectively. The Whalers shut out the Lumberjacks before falling to the Captains. They've gone 3-3-0 in the third round-robin and will be looking for more consistency as they face DC next. The Privateers went 1-0-1 against Isca Town and DC, which is a pretty good result for them. Their 3-2-1 third round-robin record includes wins over DC and Londinium, but a loss to Vinovium that severely hampered them. 

As for the Newfield Rangers, they played two competitive, close games, but came away with just one point for their troubles. Head coach Teddy Clegg isn't looking for success just yet, though; a scrappy and competitive team is good enough for this year. There isn't a lot separating ninth from sixth, so a good run to end the first half could see the Rangers in a surprising position. Meanwhile, Vinovium takes two close losses; their third round-robin record is 1-5-0, as they look to be reverting to old bad habits. They'll take on Mancunium next, with both teams looking to finish the first half strong.