Wild closes out regular season
Kensington visits Saint John, hosts Fredericton in major midget action
The Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild will conclude regular-season play in the New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League this weekend. The Wild, who is 24-7-2 (wonlost-overtime losses) and will finish in second place behind the Moncton Flyers (26-6-2), hits the road on Friday to take on the third-place Saint John Vitos (20-13-0), before returning home to Credit Union Centre in Kensington, previously Community Gardens, to entertain the Fredericton Caps (7-24-2) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. “They are games that you want to keep moving forward,” said Wild head coach Kyle Dunn. “We’ve implemented a few things we want to work on going into the playoffs on the big ice in Saint John, and the small ice in Kensington.
“We are kind of strategizing a little more, and fine-tuning for the playoffs.”
Playoff series
The Wild and Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride (14-13-5) will meet in the best-of-seven provincial major midget championship series to determine P.E.I.’s representative at the Atlantic championship in Lantz, N.S., in late March. That series is expected to start in Kensington on Friday, March 2.
With only two games remaining before the playoffs, Dunn said the Wild is taking this weekend very seriously.
“You want to go into the playoffs with your best foot forward,” said Dunn. “You do not want to develop bad habits, you don’t want to sit back and you want to come in at a high tempo.
“Fredericton is going to give you everything they have. They are a hard-working team, hardnosed and they play a playoffstyle game every time. We saw Saint John last week in Kensington, and it’s going to be two good games to gear up for the playoffs.”
The Vitos struck for two quick goals in the last half of the third period to break a 1-1 tie en route to a 3-1 win over the Wild.