Screaming Eagles host Islanders in back-to-back games
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will look to put together a winning streak on home ice tonight and Saturday when they host the Charlottetown Islanders at Centre 200.
The back-to-back Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League games each begin at 7 p.m.
The Screaming Eagles are on the home stretch of the 2017-18 regular season with five games remaining and emphasis on the word
“home” — four of those five games are at Centre 200.
“The most important thing for us is to grow our game, and to grow our game we need our individuals to grow,” said Screaming
Eagles head coach and general manager MarcAndré Dumont. “That’s the secret of our success for the last year and a half and we don’t want to change that recipe.
“Whether we’re game
63, 64 or game one in the playoffs, we need to get better, we need to improve our game and the guys have done a terrific job doing that.”
Cape Breton (29-27-6-1, 65 points) is 12th in the overall standings. They’re chasing the 11th-place Gatineau Olympiques (32-23-34, 71 points) and are looking to keep both the 13th-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar (2929-4-1, 63 points) and 14th-place Moncton Wildcats (25-31-5-3, 58 points) at bay.
The Screaming Eagles put some distance between themselves and the Wildcats on Wednesday with a 4-2 home win, as goaltender Kyle Jessiman came up big with a 28-save performance.
Tonight will mark the first visit to Centre 200 for Sydney native Derek Gentile in an Islanders uniform. He was dealt during the league’s holiday trade period from the Quebec Remparts to the Islanders along with a third-round pick in 2019 for 18-year-old winger Matthew Grouchy and 19-year-old centre Gregor MacLeod. Gentile, an 18-year-old forward, has 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points in 62 games this season.
Tonight’s game against the Islanders will be the team’s annual bullying awareness night. The focus of the theme is SPIRIT (Students Practising and Inspiring Respect, Inclusiveness and Thoughtfulness). The team has partnered with the Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board to spread the stop bullying message.