Wild wins P.E.I. title
Kensington wins third straight provincial title and fourth in five years
Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild captain Clark Webster, second right, hoists the P.E.I. major midget hockey championship trophy at Credit Union Centre in Kensington, previously Community Gardens, on Saturday night. Also participating in the presentation were assistant captains, from left, Evan Gallant, Frank Fortin and Chandler Wood, who scored 3:27 into overtime to give the Wild a 3-2 win in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series. The Wild will move on to represent P.E.I. at the Atlantic major midget hockey championship in Lantz, N.S., from March 29 to April 1. Gallant was named the most valuable player of the series.
The Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild is the 2018 P.E.I. major midget hockey champions.
Forward Chandler Wood scored 3:27 into the first overtime period to give the Wild a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride on Saturday night. The Wild, who won the bestof-seven series 4-1, will represent P.E.I. at the Atlantic major midget hockey championship in Lantz, N.S., from March 29 to April 1.
The Wild has won four provincial championships in their five years in Kensington, including three in a row.
“We like to have a winning culture,” said Wild head coach Kyle Dunn as his players celebrated on the ice and posed for photos with family members and friends.
“When you walk into our dressing room and the back hall, you see the (championship) banners.
“That speaks pretty loud to our guys that we have a winning attitude, and when you come to work, whether it be in March or August, you are going to put a 100-per-cent effort in.”
Before 750 boisterous fans at Credit Union Centre in Kensington, previously Community Gardens, Evan Gallant and Isaac Callaghan earned assists on Wood’s game-winning goal. Gallant, who recorded 11 points – six goals and five assists – in the series was named the series most valuable player.
The Wild built period leads of 1-0 and 2-0 on goals by Colby MacArthur and Ryan Richards.
The Pride, however, refused to quit, and rallied to tie the game on third-period goals by Ed McNeill (7:28) and Connor McGregor (12:43).
“You have to be proud of our group, and we knew there would be no quit,” said Pride head coach Luke Beck. “We have a great group of leaders who are good players, but more importantly are unbelievable kids.
“They took charge after the second period and said, ‘We are not going down like this.’
“A true credit to our group to claw our way back and give ourselves a chance. Unfortunately, for our group of 20 kids, we didn’t get the last goal, but a credit to them.
“They are a great team that is really well coached by Kyle and his staff.
“They have a great group of 17-year-olds, and at the same time it sucks for our group, but hats off to them on a fantastic season so far.”
Anticipated push
Dunn added the Wild didn’t expect an easy third period.
“Going into the third period we knew we were going to see the best of the Charlottetown Pride,” said Dunn. “We are pretty proud of our guys to stick with it. You can easily get unraveled after blowing a 2-0 lead.” Caleb Coyle earned the goaltending win while Erik MacInnis was in goal for the Pride. MacInnis, who registered 42 saves, did everything he could to give the Pride a chance, stopping a second-period breakaway, turning
in back-to-back highlight reel saves off two point-blank chances with just under 10 minutes to keep it a 2-1 game, and he made a beautiful glove save on a deke attempt on a breakaway early in overtime.
“I could run your recorder out if you want me to talk about Erik MacInnis,” said Beck. “He obviously went through a lot.
“He called me last June and said he was going to be out five or six months (with an injury), and he had one goal in mind and that was to be the best goalie in Atlantic Canada at this time of the season. What can you say?
“He was incredible (Saturday) and throughout the series.
“Look no farther than Erik’s work habits to rehab himself and get back and put himself in that situation. I couldn’t be prouder of Erik for the effort he put in, and for the leader he is for our group.”
Four regular defencemen
Dunn was proud of his team’s effort as the Wild played Game 5 with just four regular defencemen – captain Clark Webster, Zac Arsenault, Carter Cahill and William Proud – after Ethan Beaulieu was sidelined with an injury. Rookie blue-liner Austin Callaghan missed the entire series with an injury as well. “Those guys played some big minutes and put forth a gutsy effort,” said Dunn. “Hats off to all our guys. We had to backcheck and Coyle played well on the backend. I’m pretty proud of these guys.”
Dunn also praised the play of affiliates Alex Hutchinson and Joe MacEachern on the blueline. “Those guys stepped in and did a great job in a tough situation,” said Dunn.
When asked what his message was to his players after the game, Beck responded: “It’s always tough when you lose your last game of the season. Any time your season ends the first thing you think about is the kids who are no longer going to be eligible to play in the league, and your heart breaks for them. “You try to say what you can, but there’s nothing that you can say. . . As I said to the group after, it hurts because you know you put everything into it right from September. Our group really grew as both individuals and as a team, and for that reason it stings for them.
“It’s part of the game, you have to be able to learn what it takes to win, and learn from your losses. My hope for them is that they can remember this feeling moving down the road, whether it’s playing for us or at another level, and they learn from those intangibles and have a chance to win again.”