Tigers strike first
Campbellton builds early lead and holds on to edge Caps in Game 1
The Campbellton Tigers proved they will be no pushover in the Maritime Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Tigers scored two goals 20 seconds apart in the first period to build a 3-1 lead, and then held on to edge the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals 3-2 in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastlink North Division semifinal.
“It was really intense,” said Campbellton rookie forward Coleton Perry of North Bedeque. “Everybody was rolling on our team.
“We are the underdogs coming in, but we showed we are going to make a series out of it.”
The Tigers (24-22-2-2), who finished the regular season in third place 15 points behind the Capitals (33-16-1-0), earned their first win of the 2017-18 season in Summerside to gain home-ice advantage. Game 2 is at the Campbellton Memorial Civic Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m., with Game 3 back in Summerside on Monday at 7 p.m.
“This is huge considering we had not won in their rink this year,” said Perry. “We want to carry this momentum to Game 2 back home.”
Caps head coach Billy McGuigan said it was a “disappointing” Game 1 for his team.
“I wasn’t happy with the game overall,” assessed McGuigan. “I thought Campbellton was really on the puck a lot, I thought we had more quality chances than them, but we didn’t capitalize on them. We didn’t get second chances, they cleared a lot of pucks.”
The Caps held a slim 39-37 shots-on-goal advantage, but Tigers goaltender Greg Maggio stood tall in the third period.
Before an estimated 1,200 fans at Eastlink Arena, rookie Zach Thususka got the Caps off to a quick start as he opened the scoring 1:12 into the contest as his shot beat Maggio on the stick side. However, the goal did not deflate the Tigers.
“Our motto is to not get too high or too low,” said Perry.
The Tigers tied the game as Francis Thibeault beat Caps goaltender Dominik Tmej cleanly with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle on the right wing. Noah Whebby scored on a breakaway shot that Tmej got a piece of at 15:10, and Pier-Oliver Michaud scored 20 seconds later to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. That led to the Caps making goaltending switch as Alex a Bishop took over for Tmej, who faced 14 shots. Bishop was perfect over the final 42-plus minutes, stopping all 23 shots he faced to give the Caps a chance to come back.
The first period ended 3-1, and Caps’ midget-aged forward Cameron Roberts made 3-2 at 10:14 of the second period. From there, it was nail-biting time as the Tigers hung on defensively.
“It was our team buying in defensively,” said Perry. “We were all blocking shots, communicating and we played really strong when they turned it on.”
McGuigan admitted the Caps faced a big uphill battle after falling behind by two goals.
“They don’t give up a lot and they have a great team and goaltending,” said McGuigan. “We just have to find our rhythm here, and this was a good learning experience.”