“I’m getting pretty anxious,” the Montague Stallions captain said before Thursday’s practice. “I’ve got the old butterflies in the stomach again; that's the first time in a long time that’s happened.”
The Stallions play their first North East Senior Hockey League playoff game tonight, and for some of the players it is their first competitive post-season contest in a few seasons.
This is the Stallions first season, and many of the guys had been playing rec hockey since aging out of junior in recent years.
Gunn jumped in with both feet when he got the call this summer to see if he was interested in playing senior hockey.
“I felt I was too young to play rec hockey for the rest of my life,” the 24-year-old Orwell Cove native said. “I started making phone calls and everything kind of fell into place.”
Tom Walker is the general manager while Bernard Cheverie is the head coach with James Sanford as his assistant.
Gaspereaux native Matthew Myers played with the Montague Maniacs of the Island Junior Hockey League two seasons ago. He played rec hockey in Charlottetown in 2015-16 and said it’s been a privilege to play senior hockey this season.
“It’s good that Tom and our captain, Devan, got together over the summer and gave a lot of guys, like myself, a chance to play (competitive) hockey again,” he said.
The guys admitted the first few shifts were a bit of a wakeup call with the league’s speed, intensity and physicality. But with the competitive juices flowing, the Stallions won four straight games en route to a regular season title.
“I credit it all to the players,” Cheverie said. “It's a very good nucleus of great guys here, that work very well together.”
The majority of the team is from the Island with the players coming from major junior, junior A or university hockey programs.
“It says a lot about P.E.I. hockey. We’ve got some great players,” Cheverie said.
The team has provided some men a chance to continue playing.
Nick Parker played two seasons with the UPEI Panthers before being cut in the fall.
“It was certainly not what I expected, and for a while there I was pretty upset and I didn't really know what I was going to do,” he said. “Hockey has always been a big part of my life. I wasn't ready to give it up.”
He jumped on board when the Stallions came calling.
“It was a perfect fit with these guys starting up a team,” said Parker, who is finishing up his business degree this year.
The 23-year-old Windsor, N.S., native is one of four former Panthers on the team and knew Stallion players from his days in both the Quebec major and Maritime junior hockey leagues or through the Andrews Hockey Growth Programs.
“Hockey is a pretty small world,” Parker said. “I don't think there’d be a guy on the team that I hadn’t played with at some point when I was younger.”
“I’m getting pretty anxious,” the Montague Stallions captain said before Thursday’s practice. “I’ve got the old butterflies in the stomach again; that's the first time in a long time that’s happened.”
The Stallions play their first North East Senior Hockey League playoff game tonight, and for some of the players it is their first competitive post-season contest in a few seasons.
This is the Stallions first season, and many of the guys had been playing rec hockey since aging out of junior in recent years.
Gunn jumped in with both feet when he got the call this summer to see if he was interested in playing senior hockey.
“I felt I was too young to play rec hockey for the rest of my life,” the 24-year-old Orwell Cove native said. “I started making phone calls and everything kind of fell into place.”
Tom Walker is the general manager while Bernard Cheverie is the head coach with James Sanford as his assistant.
Gaspereaux native Matthew Myers played with the Montague Maniacs of the Island Junior Hockey League two seasons ago. He played rec hockey in Charlottetown in 2015-16 and said it’s been a privilege to play senior hockey this season.
“It’s good that Tom and our captain, Devan, got together over the summer and gave a lot of guys, like myself, a chance to play (competitive) hockey again,” he said.
The guys admitted the first few shifts were a bit of a wakeup call with the league’s speed, intensity and physicality. But with the competitive juices flowing, the Stallions won four straight games en route to a regular season title.
“I credit it all to the players,” Cheverie said. “It's a very good nucleus of great guys here, that work very well together.”
The majority of the team is from the Island with the players coming from major junior, junior A or university hockey programs.
“It says a lot about P.E.I. hockey. We’ve got some great players,” Cheverie said.
The team has provided some men a chance to continue playing.
Nick Parker played two seasons with the UPEI Panthers before being cut in the fall.
“It was certainly not what I expected, and for a while there I was pretty upset and I didn't really know what I was going to do,” he said. “Hockey has always been a big part of my life. I wasn't ready to give it up.”
He jumped on board when the Stallions came calling.
“It was a perfect fit with these guys starting up a team,” said Parker, who is finishing up his business degree this year.
The 23-year-old Windsor, N.S., native is one of four former Panthers on the team and knew Stallion players from his days in both the Quebec major and Maritime junior hockey leagues or through the Andrews Hockey Growth Programs.
“Hockey is a pretty small world,” Parker said. “I don't think there’d be a guy on the team that I hadn’t played with at some point when I was younger.”
Roster
A look at tonight’s projected lineup for the Montague Stallions:
Wayne Savage
Spencer MacDonald
A.J. MacInnis
Steven Gould
Chris Doyle
Adam Laite
Evan Morrison
Marshall Ellis
Nick Parker
Steve Brazil
David Mazurek
Matthew Myers
Justin MacDonald
Dylan McGuigan
Stephen MacInnis
Travis Willis
Matt Stead
Devan Gunn
Jamie MacIntyre
Alex Peddle
