Wind looks to turn series around
The Down East Auto Parts Eastern Stars put home ice advantage to good use, as they defeated the Western Wind in Games 1 and 2 of the bestof-seven U18 Maritime Major Female Hockey League, P.E.I. playoffs.
The Stars, ranked the higher seed, had the privilege of starting the series on home ice at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague, in front of their crowd. Head coach of the Stars Blaine Fitzpatrick knows how important home ice advantage is.
“The girls were excited to be in our rink. We had a pretty decent crowd for the games Friday and Saturday night. We were surprised by how many fans turned out to watch the girls play," said Fitzpatrick.
The Stars took the first game 3-1 on goals from Sophie Mackeigan, Cassie Gordon and Emily Gardiner. Fitzpatrick was impressed by what he saw from his team.
“We were very good defensively, we gave them little to no chances,” said Fitzpatrick. “Our penalty kill was excellent. Power plays can win games, and luckily we were able to shut theirs down.”
Morgan Mcneil, head coach of the Wind, knows his team can play a lot better.
“Game 1 we were really slow, we weren’t able to get our legs going and we weren’t able to generate a lot of offensive chances,” said Mcneil. “We need everybody to play the system we want to.”
Game 2, the next night, was similar to Game 1, with the Stars winning 4-1. Despite the loss, Mcneil liked what he saw from his team.
“We were able to get our sticks and bodies in the lanes and take away passes, block shots and limit the amount of chances they had. In Game 2 our forecheck was great, and if we can build off those we’ll be in good shape.”
The Wind will now have home ice advantage for Games 3 and 4, switching to the Evangeline Recreation Center in Wellington. Puck drop for Game 3 is March 9 at 3:15 p.m., while Game 4 is March 10 at 10:15 a.m.
“We know what we need to fix and what it takes to turn the series around. It will be very exciting to play at home next weekend and I’m sure our fans will be loud,” said Mcneil.
Fitzpatrick and the Stars know a 2-0 lead is never safe. With the series switching and giving the Wind home ice advantage, the Stars know what they have to do to finish the series off and avoid an upset.
“We want to get better every time on the ice, all of our focus is on game three. We want to play a whole sixty minutes, I find we are yet to do that and playing a full 60 minutes is what playoff hockey is all about,” said Fitzpatrick.