Relishing the opportunity

Samuel Meisenheimer responding to increased role with Charlottetown Islanders

Samuel Meisenheimer has his confidence back.

The 19-year-old right-winger has 13 points in 17 games for the Charlottetown Islanders after amassing eight points in 48 games a year ago with the last-place Moncton Wildcats.

“Coming to Charlottetown, obviously (head coach Jim Hulton) has put me in a position where it has helped me gain a lot of confidence and it’s helped me a lot,” Meisenheimer said before Tuesday’s practice.

Meisenheimer was born in Viking, Alta., but moved to the Ottawa area before he turned one. He grew up playing hockey in the capital and caught the eye of the Wildcats while playing in a tournament in Quebec City with Hill Academy during his 16-year-old season.

He attended camp in Moncton the following season before returning to play tier two in Ottawa and Nepean. He made the Wildcats in 2016-17 and was

part of a club that went 14-512-1.

“It’s never fun to lose that many games,” he said, “but I found that I gained quite a bit of experience from that and learning what it’s like to lose like that and knowing you don’t want that to carry on for years to come.”

Meisenheimer was one of the assets the Isles received when they traded goalie Mark Grametbauer to Moncton at the draft.

Hulton said Meisenheimer was on the Islanders radar when he signed with Moncton, so he was someone they were interested in during trade negotiations.

“At that point, you figure, let’s take a flier on him and see,” he said.

“The plan was to try and get his confidence back in an offensive role and, fortunately for us, he’s responded.”

Meisenheimer and Adam Marsh have formed a duo.

“I like playing with him,” Marsh said. “He’s pretty quick and a skilled little player. He makes some good plays with the puck and it seems to be working out pretty well for us.”

The Islanders (10-7-1-0) won three games in three days in Quebec during the weekend.

They return to home ice tonight to play the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (10-8-1-0) at 7 p.m.

“We’re just building a lot of confidence,” Meisenheimer said. “We’re following the systems very well that Jim has put in place for us and everybody is just working hard for each other each night. We’re getting the results we want and we just want to keep it going.”

Centre Gregor MacLeod is expected to return to the lineup tonight after going through the concussion protocol with a whiplash-type injury sustained Oct. 28.

Goalie Matthew Welsh gets the start tonight. strong