CRAPAUD – The Southside Lynx is looking to take advantage of home-ice advantage.
The Lynx is the host team for the 2018 Maritime Hockey North junior C championship tournament, which is being held at the South Shore Actiplex in Crapaud.
“It’s great to have home-ice advantage,” said Lynx forward and captain Brady VanderVelden of Kinkora. “The last four years we’ve played great in our home rink, so it’s going to be a huge advantage for us.”
The Lynx will kick off the 10-game round robin against the Tri-Country Rivercats from New Brunswick on Wednesday. Due to travel delays with Hockey North’s Baffin Blizzard, the Day 1 schedule has been revised as the Lynx and Rivercats’ game has been moved up to 5:30 p.m., and the Blizzard and P.E.I.-champion Sherwood-Parkdale Metros’ contest will now go at 8 p.m. The Spryfield Attack from Nova Scotia round out the five-team field.
“There is a lot of chatting going on in the community,” said Lynx head coach Paul Dawson. “Hopefully, they come and support us. It’s always nice to play in your home rink.”
The Metros, who hosted this tournament in 2015, defeated the Tignish Perry's Construction Aces in a seven-game final between the top two teams in the Razzy’s P.E.I. Junior C Hockey League regular season.
The Metros, who led by Owen Arsenault’s 25 points in the playoffs, finished first at 26-2-0 (won-lost-overtime losses). Southside (17-10-1) was third in the regular season.
Southside Lynx forward Brady VanderVelden.
Fourth appearance
This is the Lynx’s fourth appearance at this tournament after winning the 2015, 2016 and 2017 provincial titles. This year, they lost to runner-up Aces in the semifinals.
“It’s too bad we didn’t get to go to the finals, but at the same time it gave us a nice little break,” said Lynx defenceman and assistant captain Jarrett Mulligan of Emerald. "We are all healed up, everyone is healthy going into Atlantics. Hopefully, that will be a key for us.”
Mulligan, who is in his final season with the Lynx, understands “another big opportunity” awaits.
“We’ve gone the last three years, so we are hoping to finally get over the hurdle and take home the Atlantic championship,” added Mulligan, 22.
VanderVelden is well aware what to expect on the ice this week.
“The tempo is a little bit quicker at this level,” said VanderVelden, 21. “It’s not the same as the P.E.I. league, because you are facing guys you are not really used to playing. It’s an experience thing, and the last three years have been huge for that.”
Dawson said it will be very important for the Lynx to play smart hockey.
“You have to learn to keep your mouth shut, play hard and you can’t make any mistakes,” explained Dawson. “These teams from across are pretty strong, and if you take stupid penalties the other teams are going to capitalize.”
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Schedule
Maritime Hockey North junior Cchampionship schedule:
Wednesday, April 4
5:30 p.m. – Tri-County Rivercats (N.B.) vs. Southside Lynx (Host).
8 p.m. – Baffin Blizzard (Hockey North) vs. Sherwood-Parkdale Metros (P.E.I.).
Thursday, April 5
11 a.m. – Spryfield Attack (N.S.) vs. Sherwood-Parkdale.
2 p.m. – Southside vs. Baffin.
5 p.m. – Spryfield vs. Tri-County.
8 p.m. – Sherwood-Parkdale vs. Southside.
Friday, April 6
11 a.m. – Baffin vs. Spryfield.
2 p.m. – Sherwood-Parkdale vs. Tri-County.
5 p.m. – Southside vs. Spryfield.
8 p.m. – Tri-County vs. Baffin.
End of Round Robin.
Saturday, April 7
3 p.m. – Semifinal game.
7 p.m. – Semifinal game.
Sunday, April 8
2 p.m. – Championship game.
Note: All games are at the South Shore Actiplex in Crapaud.
