Caps off to Round 2
MacDonald has three-point night in series-clinching win vs. Dieppe
Before Game 6 of their MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League) playoff series, the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals took a bus trip to simulate a road game.
The tactic worked as the Capitals are on the road to the Eastlink North Division final after defeating the Dieppe Commandos 5-2 before 1,367 fans at Eastlink Arena on Saturday. Summerside won the best-ofseven opening-round series 4-2. Capitals forward Morgan MacDonald, who had a goal and two assists, said it was important to finish the series on home ice, citing the afternoon bus ride as key to the team’s success.
“We wanted to have some energy coming into the game, and it seemed to work (Saturday), so we’ll take it,” he said.
Austin Taylor, Josh Pugsley, Kallum Muirhead and MarcAndre LeCouffe also scored for Summerside.
Capitals head coach Billy McGuigan was proud of how his team battled with a lineup missing four 20-year-olds, including captain Nathan Yetman. “This was a team that had the will to win,” he said. “There (were) a lot of things that went on in the series.
“At the end of the day, we weren’t looking for retribution or to retaliate, we were just looking to win.” Joey Richard (1-1) and Lukas Kane scored for Dieppe. Matt Williams made 28 saves in Summerside’s goal. Frederic Foulem turned aside 25 for Dieppe.
First goal
Taylor got things going seven minutes in for the Capitals as the puck slipped past a Commandos defenceman at Summerside’s blue-line, and he beat Foulem with a backhand on a breakaway.
“It was something we needed,” MacDonald said of Taylor’s marker. “We were killing a penalty, and to be able to get a short one off the bat that early in the game really got the guys sparked.”
Dieppe nearly answered less than a minute later, but Williams stopped Kane at the top of the crease.
The Capitals got a fortunate bounce on their second goal as Nolan Alward’s attempt to bring the puck out of his own zone bounced off Foulem and in with just over four minutes left in the period. MacDonald was credited with the goal, his third of the playoffs, to give Summerside a 2-0 lead after one. Summerside extended its lead to 3-0 7:14 into the second period as Brodie MacArthur dug the puck out in Dieppe’s slot before feeding Pugsley for his first of the playoffs. Dieppe got back in the game with two goals in 1:38 midway through the second, with both goals coming as the result of bounces around Summerside’s net.
“We never wavered,” McGuigan said of Dieppe’s attempted comeback. “We stayed with our game and we stayed with our systems, and we just kept going forward.”
The Commandos nearly tied it up with seven minutes to play, but Williams got a pad out to stop a Richard’s one-timer to keep the Capitals up one through 40 minutes. Dieppe nearly tied the game with 7:35 remaining as Williams stopped Alexandre Jacob in the slot, but Ryan Chiasson couldn’t handle the rebound. Muirhead iced the game, snapping the puck from the slot past Foulem with 4:35 remaining. LeCouffe added an emptynetter two minutes later. The Caps and Miramichi Timberwolves will open the best-of-seven Eastlink North Division final series in Miramichi, N.B., on Saturday night.