The Capitals will meet the first-place Miramichi Timberwolves in the best-of-seven Eastlink North Division final in the MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League), beginning Saturday night in Miramichi, N.B. The teams return to Summerside for Game 2 on Monday at 7 p.m.
“We know we are in tough, but this underdog role that we took on in the first round and again in this round is kind of something that is fitting for our team right now,” said Caps head coach Billy McGuigan. “We are not going to roll over for sure. We are going to give it our best effort.”
The Capitals are coming off an emotional six-game series win over the Dieppe Commandos. The Timberwolves outscored the St. Stephen Aces 25-7 in a four-game sweep in the other division semifinal.
“They are a highly-skilled team with tremendous depth,” said McGuigan in describing the Timberwolves. “We are going to stick to our structure as best we can, try to keep the games low scoring and hopefully give ourselves a chance.”
The Capitals, who won four of the six regular-season contests versus the Timberwolves, will be looking for contributions from throughout the lineup.
“We have 21 players on our team, and there’s no one more important than the next guy,” said McGuigan. “Everyone has played a role here, everyone has contributed, so we are looking for 21 guys again.”
McGuigan is anticipating a physical series against Miramichi.
“They are a team that plays hard, and they play with a lot of emotion,” said McGuigan. “As you have seen with our team, we played with tremendous discipline and composure through the first round against Dieppe.”
Injury updates
McGuigan also provided an injury update on four 20-year-olds. He added the Caps are hopeful defenceman Michael White will be available for Game 1 while goaltender Christofer Langlais and forwards David Osborne and Nathan Yetman are day to day, noted the head coach.
“The longer the series goes the better for us as far as getting bodies back,” added McGuigan.
Along with injuries, the Caps have also been battling a flu bug the past week. As a result, the team resumed practicing on Wednesday.
“It was a good hard intense practice, and guys were working hard,” said McGuigan. “One thing about this group of guys throughout the season the work ethic has always been there, win or lose. No matter what the case was, we always seemed to find a way to work hard.”
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Previous Meetings
Head-to-head results for Caps and Timberwolves:
Sept. 30
Caps 3 at Timberwolves 8.
Oct. 15
Timberwolves 2 at Caps 3 (SO).
Nov. 10
Timberwolves 3 at Caps 4.
Dec. 17
Timberwolves 7 at Caps 9.
Jan. 6
Caps 6 at Timberwolves 4.
Feb. 22
Caps 3 at Timberwolves 4 (SO).
