Another must-win
Wild looks to force Game 7 tonight as Pride can clinch major midget title with win
Blake Jamieson knows he can only play two more minor hockey games on Prince Edward Island.
He’d be fine with just one. The 18-year-old forward from Little Pond and his Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride teammates can win the provincial major midget title with a victory on home ice tonight. The Pride host the Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild at 7 p.m. at MacLauchlan Arena.
“It’s pretty important to me to have that medal at home and (be able) to look back . . . and say you won, say you gave it your all,” Jamieson said before Wednesday’s practice.
But, he said, the team is not looking too far ahead, concentrating on the task at hand. “Go game by game,” he said. “You never know what the outcome is going to be.”
The Wild staved off elimination Saturday with a win in Game 5 but trails the Pride 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Jamieson and goalie Noah Laybolt are the only players remaining from the last time Charlottetown won the provincial title in 2015. The then Charlottetown Islanders won the championship in Game 6 on home ice.
“It’s pretty exciting, being this close, one win away from an Island championship,” said Laybolt, an 18-year-old Canavoy native. “I just want that feeling again. My first year was amazing.”
Wild head coach Kyle Dunn said his team was excited to win Saturday night, but it was back to business on Sunday.
“It’s forgotten about. We have to move on and worry about Thursday,” he said. “It’s all those clichés, but we just have to come out and work.
We know it’s do or die.”
With their season on the line, Dunn said, he didn’t learn anything new about what he called a resilient team.
“I know our team is never going to quit and just pack it in,” he said. “We’re never going to hand anything over.”
Neither he, nor his counterpart,
Luke Beck, believes there is momentum gained or lost from the last game. It’s a new day, they say, and whoever shows up tonight will have the best chance to win.
“It’s two evenly matched teams,” Dunn said, “so it’s going to come down to the team that wants it the most.”
Beck is pleased to have the lead, but he knows his team hasn’t won anything yet. “We know they’re going to come ready to play Thursday night and we have to be able to match that, like we have all series, and it will give ourselves a chance to win an Island championship.”
The Wild was planning on making a decision on its starting goalie at Wednesday’s practice. Caleb Coyle won Saturday in his first start of the series after veteran Luke Oliver started the first four games. Dunn said the team has confidence in both goalies. The Pride will be without Owen MacNeill for the remainder of the series after he was hit from behind during Game 5.