KENSINGTON – Kyle Dunn has made one thing very clear.
The Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild is not just happy to be at the 2018 Atlantic major midget hockey championship. Thus, the P.E.I. representative boarded a business-like approach on the team bus for the trip to Lantz, N.S., on Wednesday.
“We’re not just dipping our toes into the water, we are going full out,” said Dunn, who is in his fourth year as Wild head coach. “One of the things we are preaching to the guys is we are just not happy to win the Island. We want to go over there and make noise.
“We obviously know we have a special group here after posting the best record in Kensington Wild history.
“Let’s not just go over to Nova Scotia and say, ‘We are over here for a good time. Let’s make some noise and put in a good effort.’”
The Wild completed the 2017-18 New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League regular season at 26-7-2 (won-lost-overtime losses). Their 54-point total was just two back of the first-place Moncton Flyers (27-6-2), a team Kensington faces on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Flyers held a slim 4-3 advantage in head-to-head meetings with the Wild this season, with the final meeting a 3-1 score with an empty-net goal.
The Wild, who defeated the Charlottetown Bulk Carriers Pride 4-1 in the best-of-seven provincial championship series earlier this month, has become a fixture at the Atlantic championship. Since the franchise relocated to Kensington from Cornwall five years ago, the Wild has represented P.E.I. as provincial champions off-Island four times. The one year Kensington did not win the provincial title, the franchise hosted a very successful 2015 tournament.
Tough Day 1
The Wild, who went winless at last year’s Atlantic championship in Miramichi, N.B., faces a very challenging opening day at the East Hants Sportsplex. They face Nova Scotia-champion Dartmouth Steele Subaru at 2 p.m., and then meet the host Cole Harbour Wolfpack at 8 p.m.
“This year, we struggled against Nova Scotia teams,” said Dunn. “Our practices were about up tempo and speed.
“You don’t have time to adapt to speed and make adjustments.”
The St. John’s Maple Leafs from Newfoundland and Labrador round out the five-team field. The teams will play a round robin, with the top two advancing to Sunday’s championship game at 1 p.m.
“It’s the best teams from every province in Atlantic Canada, so obviously it’s the best talent around,” said Wild forward Colby MacArthur of Summerside. “They are all good teams and usually more skilled, but if we work harder we will have a chance.”
Dunn said the message from the Wild’s coaching staff is a familiar one.
“It’s the same thing we’ve done all year,” said Dunn. “We have to work, we have to get our feet going and all 20 guys have to buy in. It’s nothing new, nothing is going to change.
“We’ve seen these teams before, and we know how to play them. They are going to be fast, they are going to be skilled, so we have to be ready right from the opening draw.”
