Caps come up short

SUMMERSIDE - The Miramichi Timberwolves spoiled an emotional home opener for the Summerside Western Capitals with a 5-2 victory Friday night in Maritime Junior A Hockey League action.
The two teams, who came into the game with a win and a loss in early season play, battled it out at the Credit Union Place. But the Caps were hampered by two late first-period goals from the Timberwolves' Justin Barbour and Keith Bombaugh and never fully recovered.
It's quickly becoming a familiar problem for Summerside, said head coach Kenny MacDougall.
"The one thing we've been doing in every game so far this year is we're getting behind and it gets extremely tough to play from behind every time," he said. "It takes a lot of energy.
Caps goaltender Alex Dupuis went shot for shot with Miramichi's Bradley Dyke until Barbour flipped a shot past Dupuis' glove side after a nice centring pass with four minutes left in the first. Bombaugh notched his goal just over two minutes later.
The Timberwolves came out gunning in the second period as well, with Chris Owens scoring on the power play just 40 seconds in.
Summerside's Parker Deighan came right back with the Caps' first of the game just over a minute later, while team captain Brett Gallant brought them to within a goal near the halfway mark of the second period.
Penalty trouble again hampered the Caps' efforts in the third though, with Miramichi's Nick Croft capitalizing on a man advantage opportunity. Jesse MacIntyre scored two minutes later to put the game away for good.
"We come out slow and it doesn't seem like we're prepared," Gallant said after the game. "We get it going late in the second and we get into penalty trouble in the third and it gets us down."
Despite several Timberwolves penalties in the third period, Summerside couldn't capitalize.
"When you're behind, you start pressing and squeezing the stick," said MacDougall. "We need to find a way to come out and start a game and start playing with the lead. Hopefully Sunday we'll be able to do that."
Summerside's Darlene Craig started the evening on an emotional note with a ceremonial puck drop.
Craig, who's battling cancer, is a longtime volunteer in the community who holds a special place in the heart of the Caps' organization, said MacDougall.
"It was a very touching tribute to Darlene with a lovely warm reception from Summerside fans. She's such a supporter of us that it'd be nice to be able to support her with a win," he said. " But there's 2,000 fans here and we hope they'll be back to see us again because we'll be better."
Sunday the Caps entertain the Dieppe Commandos for a 2 p.m. start at Credit Union Place.