Wild remains perfect at home

Kensington “empties the tank” in lone weekend game vs. Fredericton

Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild centre Colby MacArthur, 12, and the Fredericton Caps’ Nick Hood take a faceoff during Saturday night’s New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League game at Community Gardens in Kensington. Also following the play intently are Wild goaltender Caleb Coyle and forward Dixon MacLeod, 22. The Wild won the game 2-1. Alysha Campbell/Journal Pioneer

KENSINGTON – The Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild recorded another win on home ice Saturday.
The Wild, who edged the Fredericton Caps 2-1, is now a perfect 4-for-4 on Community Gardens ice in the 2017-18 New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League regular season.
“It’s an advantage we definitely want to keep intact,” said Wild head coach Kyle Dunn following the game.
Before an estimated 400 fans at Community Gardens, strong defensive play prevailed as each team was limited to eight shots on goal in a scoreless opening 20 minutes.
However, 3:50 into the second period, Zac Arsenault set up Evan Gallant to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Then with a little over two minutes left in the middle stanza, a perfect stretch pass from defenceman and team captain Clark Webster sent Gallant in alone off the right wing, and he beat Caps goaltender Justin Dupuis on a neat deke move to make it 2-0.
The Caps called a timeout early in a third-period power play, and Max Grant scored on a redirection at 11:06 before the man advantage expired. That was the only shot of the night that would elude Wild goaltender Caleb Coyle, who finished with a solid 28-save performance.
The Wild had 38 shots at Dupuis.
The name of the game for the Wild, said Dunn, is effort.
“The theme of this year is just working hard and improving every day, every game,” said Dunn. “Always working to be better.”
Hard work is something Gallant knows all about.
“I’m not much of a finesse guy, I just work hard,” said the forward from Abram-Village.
The Wild’s focus before the game was all about keeping focus and leaving it all out on the ice since it was the team’s only game of the weekend, said Gallant
“Empty the tank, and keep it solid in our end,” Dunn said to his team.
The Wild improved to 5-2-0 (won-lost-overtime losses), and Fredericton took a 2-3-0 record into Sunday afternoon’s game in Charlottetown against the Bulk Carriers Pride (2-4-0).
The Wild’s next home game is against Charlottetown on Saturday, Oct. 28. The Wild is on the road this weekend as they visit the Pride on Friday at 7 p.m., and travel to Bathurst, N.B., to take on the Northern Moose on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.