Cashing in games in hand
Important week for Caps, who host three games during next eight days
Moncton forward Marc-Anthony Therrien, left, tries to lift the stick of UPEI Panthers forward Beau McCue during Wednesday Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey game in Charlottetown.
Graham (2)
UPEI – R.T. Rice, Sam Aulie, Cody Payne, Gabe Guertler and Riley Whittingham.
Assists
Moncton – Alexis Roy (5), Marc-Anthony Therrien, Robbie Graham, Sebastien Gauthier, Justin Vanier-Guenette and JeanFrancois Plante.
UPEI – Kameron Kielly (3) Ryan MacKinnon (2), R.T. Rice, Beau McCue, Gabe Guertler, Sam Aulie
and Chad Labelle.
Goalies
Moncton – Alexi Thibaudeau, 28 saves on 33 shots.
UPEI – Matt Mahalak, nine saves on 13 shots; Connor Wilkinson, 12 saves on 14 shots. Moncton added two empty-net goals.
Power plays
Moncton – 3-for-6.
UPEI – 2-for-4.
The Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals will meet an unfamiliar opponent tonight.
The Valley Wildcats will visit the Prince County city for the first meeting of the 2017-18 regular season between the two Maritime Junior Hockey League teams. Puck drop at Eastlink Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“We don’t know a lot about them,” Caps head coach Billy McGuigan admitted in an interview following Tuesday’s practice. “We know they had a real rough start to the season, and have really picked it up the last number of games. They are one of the hotter teams in the league right now.”
Although the Berwick, N.S.based Wildcats sit last in the Eastlink South Division at 6-110-1, they have won three of their last four games.
“It’s going to be a big test for us,” acknowledged McGuigan.
The Caps (7-9-1-0) are tied with the St. Stephen Aces (713-0-1) for fourth place in the Eastlink North Division, but Summerside has played four fewer games.
It’s the start of an important week for the Caps, who also host the Woodstock Slammers (5-10-3-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m., and close out a four-game homestand against the Aces on Nov. 30 in two key divisional matchups.
“It’s a huge week for us,” emphasized McGuigan. “These two points are massive for us against Valley. It’s the opposite division, but it’s games in hand we have right now, and we need to win those games.”
The Caps will look to have a better start against the Wildcats after falling behind the Pictou County Crushers 2-0 before the game was two minutes old on Saturday. The Caps never recovered, and dropped a 4-3 decision.
“We weren’t great for the first 20 minutes, and that put us behind the 8-ball and we never got back in the game,” said McGuigan. “We outshot them 40-24, but at the end of the day the result was the first 20 minutes cost us.”
McGuigan agreed with the assessment that it was a tough but good lesson for the team to learn.
“We have a lot of character in this room, I really like the kids and we are the youngest team in the league,” said McGuigan. “We work hard every single day, and you even see in practice our work ethic is through the roof.
“But we have to start winning those hockey games, and not falling behind. We cannot come out flat, and we need to play with lots of poise, work ethic, character and speed. If we play with those things we will be successful.”