P.E.I. major U15 final begins March 28
Eastern Express looks to defend championship vs. Mid-isle Matrix
This week a rivalry begins as the Eastern Express and the Mid-isle Matrix battle in the P.E.I. Major Under-15 Hockey League championship series.
Puck drop for Game 1 of the best-of-five series is March 28 at the Pownal Sports Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
The defending-champion Express will head into the series as heavy favourites after finishing in first place with a record of 26-9-2. The Express swept the Central Attack in the first round, outscoring their opposition 14-2.
Jeremy Pierce, head coach of the Express, knows the extra pressure that can come with being such heavy favourites but says his team is ignoring that.
“Of course, as a team, we’ve heard all the comments, but I think the boys aren’t feeling any extra pressure,” said Pierce. “We hold ourselves to high standards. We know that they’re a good team, so it will be a good series, and I’m looking forward to it.”
The Matrix finished the regular season in third place at 12-24-0. The Matrix swept the Prince County Warriors in the other semifinal series.
UNDERDOG ROLE
Alex Surrett, head coach of the Matrix, knew his team was underdogs against the
Warriors but was proud of how his team was able to shut Prince County down.
“We were surprised in the first round; everyone knew we were the underdogs, but we got some outstanding goaltending, our defence played great and we held their top scorer to only one point,” said Surrett.
Surrett knows it will be tough playing against the Express and says special teams could be the deciding factor.
“It’s tough to prepare for Eastern,” said Surrett. “They have a lot of talent and are very well coached, but we are a strong team five-on-five. The power play and the penalty kill are where the game will be decided. It’s important that we work on those so they're ready to go for Game 1.”
Pierce and the Express aren’t underestimating the Matrix.
“We are going to have a couple extra practices this week,” said Pierce. “There’s some new things we are going to implement into our game and, of course, we will watch some video and prepare the team for what’s to come.”
HOSTING ATLANTICS
Despite being named host for Atlantic championship in Montague, April 18-21, Pierce has his eyes on bringing home an Island championship.
“We knew P.E.I. hosted Atlantics, and it was great when we found out we were hosting it,” said Pierce. “Winning the Island championship has been the goal from Day 1, and we are three or five games away from getting that done.”
Surrett knows his team will give it their all no matter what happens, and to get to this point of the season was the goal from the start.
“From Day 1 of training camp, we knew we wanted to be here at the end of the year,” said Surrett. “This is a special group; they’re a very close-knit group who quietly accepted the role as underdogs but were ready for the series to get going.”