Making an impression
Assistant coach praises Wilson’s versatility with Western Capitals
SUMMERSIDE – It hasn’t taken Isaac Wilson long to make an impression with the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals.
The 17-year-old midget-aged rookie from Vernon River out of the Kensington Wild program, scored his first hat trick in the Maritime Junior Hockey League to lead the Capitals to a 7-1 victory over the Bridgewater, N.S.-based South Shore Lumberjacks on Thursday night.
“The great thing about Wilsie is you can put him anywhere and he will get the job done,” said Capitals assistant coach Jason (Lefty) Gallant. “He started the year on defence and we were running seven D and he did a great job back there.
“I kind of miss having him back there, but he showed (Thursday) when you move him up front, he can lay on the body, do the little things and can also put the puck in the net. To me, he’s a complete hockey player and can do it all and whatever you ask.
“He’s a coach’s dream, he’s so versatile. The players love him, the coaches love him and he did a great job.”
Wilson, who also added an assist, and Marc-André LeCouffe (1-3) each had four points to pace the Caps, who erupted for five unanswered third-period goals.
The result left both the Caps and Eastlink South Divisionleading Lumberjacks, who were ranked No. 10 in this week’s Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings, with identical records of 7-2-0 (won-lost-overtime losses). South Shore had its winning streak snapped at five games.
“There are certain measuring sticks you have at different times of the year and this is one for our club,” said Gallant. “Now we have some more big games coming up.”
The Edmundston Blizzard (8-1-1), ranked ninth in this week’s national rankings, visits Summerside on Saturday for a key Eastlink North Division showdown at 7 p.m. The Blizzard, coming off a 4-1 road win over the Fredericton Caps (5-30) on Thursday night, have won seven games in a row.
The Caps then close out a stretch of three games in five days on the road against the Campbellton Tigers (3-1-1) on Monday night.
“We want to be the team to beat and we have to come out every game and play our hardest,” said Wilson. “We are looking forward to the Edmundston game on Saturday and hopefully we can keep things rolling.”
Before 1,175 fans at Eastlink Arena, Nick Reeves (1-1), Brodie MacArthur (1-1) and Jacob Arsenault also scored for the Caps. Bennett MacArthur (3), Josh MacDonald (2) and Kallum Muirhead (2) all had multiple-assist games.
Wilson, who deflected praise to linemates LeCouffe and MacDonald, scored his first two goals from the slot and capped the hat trick with a great individual effort. He was fed the puck going down the right wing and made a shifty move around a South Shore defenceman just inside the blue-line before going in and firing the puck home.
“They were trying to switch it up late in the game and were giving me a few shifts with Brodie and Muirhead to try and get my third (goal),” said Wilson. “I did (get it) and was pretty happy about that.”
The first period ended in a 1-1 tie and MacArthur’s goal at 16:50 of the second period during a five-minute power play gave the Caps a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
The first two periods featured tight-checking hockey and the shots on goal through 40 minutes were 15-13 in favour of the Caps, who held a 16-13 advantage in the final 20 minutes.
Brandon Stone was the lone Lumberjack to beat Caps goaltender Dominik Tmej, who stopped 25 of 26 shots.
The game’s three stars were:
1. Isaac Wilson (Caps), 2. Marc-André LeCouffe (Caps), 3. Nick Reeves (Caps).