Wild weekend
Wild hosts final regular-season game at Gardens on Saturday
Kensington Wild get ready for their final home game of the regular season on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Community Gardens.
KENSINGTON
The Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild will play their final home game of the 2016-17 regular season on Saturday. And it’s a big game as far as the standings go in the New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League.
The Wild will host the Fredericton Caps in a battle for third place at Community Gardens, with the opening faceoff set for 7:30 p.m.
“They are going to be hard working and a tough team to play,” said Wild head coach Kyle Dunn in referring to Fredericton. “It’s going to be an exciting game Saturday.”
The Wild enters weekend play in third position at 12-14-3 (won-lost-overtime losses), one point ahead of the fourth-place Caps (13-16-0). Saturday will be the first of three head-to-head meetings between Kensington and Fredericton in the final couple of weeks of the regular season that will play a big factor in determining third place.
Playoffs
More importantly for the Wild, though, is the race for home-ice advantage against the Charlottetown Pride for the best-of-seven provincial championship series that will determine P.E.I.’s representative at the Atlantic major midget hockey championship in April. The Wild, who has played three fewer games, currently holds a three-point lead over Charlottetown (11-19-2).
“We definitely want to clinch home-ice (advantage) against Charlottetown, and obviously third place is within reach,” added Dunn. “The boys have been playing well, and it’s time to get in playoff mode.
“You definitely want to get into a groove here the last few games down the stretch leading into the playoffs.”
The Wild, winners of five of their last six league games, will look to continue playing “with pace” this weekend.
“We have to play with speed, we have to be disciplined and those have been the keys to our success over the last number of games,” said Dunn. “We have been playing with a lot of speed and very disciplined.
“Our game is getting a lot quicker as our younger guys are stepping up their roles.”
Visit Moncton
The Wild will return to action on Sunday afternoon as they travel to Moncton to face the first-place Flyers (28-3-1). “It’s always a great measuring stick to see where you are at against Moncton,” said Dunn. “Moncton’s one of the top teams in the Maritimes. “When you go into Moncton you have that motivation to see where you are at.”
Dunn confirmed Caleb Coyle will get the start in goal for the Wild on Saturday night, and Luke Oliver will be between the pipes on Sunday.