SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — It’s a case of bad and good news for the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals.
Starting off with the bad news, the Caps trail the Campbellton Tigers 1-0 heading to northern New Brunswick for Game 2 in the best-of-seven Eastlink North Division final series in the MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League).
The good news is the Caps, who lost the series opener 2-0 before over 2,000 fans at Eastlink Arena in Summerside on Saturday night, won all three regular-season games in Campbellton, N.B.
“I’m sure (Caps head coach) Billy (McGuigan) will have them prepared,” said Tigers head coach Greg Leland. “They will want to come back and tie this series.
“We know it’s going to get tougher each and every night, and we’ll just have to match their intensity.”
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McGuigan emphasized there is no panic on the Caps’ side after going down a game. He did say he is looking for the Caps to play with better discipline than in Game 1, and added another key is a strong focus.
“We have a number of adjustments we have to make, and talking about getting to the dirty areas is going to be one of them for sure,” said McGuigan after the Caps outshot the Tigers 33-29 in the opener. “We have to work harder getting back to pucks, and do a better job getting pucks to the net.”
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Bigger ice surface
With the Campbellton Memorial Civic Centre featuring an Olympic-sized ice surface, will that be much of a factor?
“It’s definitely a factor, especially from a defensive standpoint,” said Caps defenceman and assistant captain Conor MacEachern. “It’s a little bit different in that you want to make sure you are not losing guys. They have a lot of small, water bug kind of speedy forwards.
“Defensive-wise, it’s a little more difficult. But we also have a great forward group and we’ll definitely want to use that to our advantage.”
Click here for story on big crowds expected for Caps-Tigers' series:
Leland downplayed the bigger playing surface.
“I know sometimes when we get the South Division teams in, and they only play there once a year, they are not used to the width,” explained Leland. “Summerside has beat us every game at home (this season), so I don’t think they care.”
Click here for story on Tigers forward Coleton Perry:
Although the Tigers will have last change on Tuesday, Leland does not expect to get too involved in line matching. He added the Caps’ depth and balance makes that very difficult.
“We didn’t worry (about matchups) in Game 1,” said Leland. “I just said, ‘Boys, we trust you, just go compete and you know who you are out against. Just be who you are.’
“They take pride in that, they don’t like getting scored on.
“At this stage, I don’t know if matchups will be the deciding factor. We just have 20 kids who are working hard, and that’s what we want.”
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