Familiar foes Wild, Pride renew acquaintances in Kensington on Saturday night
It isn’t taking the Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild and Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride long to become familiar with one another.
The Wild and Pride will meet for the third time in the 201718 New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League regular season on Saturday. The opening faceoff at Community Gardens is set for 7:30 p.m. The teams will also clash at the Bell Aliant Centre on the UPEI campus in Charlottetown on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“It’s going to be a big matchup, I’m looking forward to it,” said Wild rookie defenceman Will Proud of Stratford looking ahead to Saturday. “It’s going to have a lot of intensity coming off our game last weekend.”
The Wild pulled out a pair of one-goal wins in the first two meetings between the teams. Kensington won 5-4 on home ice Sept. 30, and 2-1 in a shootout in Charlottetown on Oct. 20.
“It’s going to be competitive and come down to who wants it more and who is going to play 60 minutes,” stressed Wild head coach Kyle Dunn. “Last week, we met and it went down to the last shooter of the shootout. “That’s what I’m expecting all year with these two teams, and it will come right down to the wire again. It’s exciting to be part of.”
The Wild, who has earned seven of a possible eight points in their last four games, sits in second place at 6-2-1 (won-lostovertime losses). The Pride is fifth at 3-5-1.
“Right now anyone can beat anyone,” said Wild second-year forward Ryan Richards of Cornwall in acknowledging the parity in the league. “We need to step it up and we have a rivalry, so we need to go out and work our butts off.
“They (Pride) are hard workers too, and we are going to have to bring the best we can on Saturday.” Richards admitted the Wild needs to do a better job of capitalize on scoring opportunities. “We are going to fore-check hard, back-check hard, work hard obviously and hopefully capitalize on our chances,” said Richards, 16. “We have been missing a lot (of chances) lately.” For Proud, who played with the Eastern Express of the P.E.I. Major Bantam AAA Hockey League last season, it hasn’t taken long to experience the building rivalry between the Wild and Pride.
“It’s intense,” admitted Proud, 15. “Last year, I heard a lot about the playoffs and so far it’s been pretty exciting.
“I go to school with a lot of these guys (Pride players), and you always want the bragging rights!”
Dunn confirmed rookie Chad Arsenault will make his third start of the season against the Pride. Overall, Arsenault is 4-0 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. “I know Chad has seen a lot of them, but it’s just the way the rotation has gone,” said Dunn. “I expect Coylee (Caleb Coyle) to go Thursday night (Nov. 2) in Charlottetown.”
“Right now anyone can beat anyone … We need to step it up and we have a rivalry, so we need to go out and work our butts off. Ryan Richards, forward