The plot has thickened regarding the highly-anticipated weekend series between the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the Lewiston MAINEiacs.
In their 5-4 shootout loss to the Halifax Mooseheads last night at the Halifax Metro Centre, the MAINEiacs lost saw three of their players fall to injury, including both of their goaltenders.
Their star #1 netminder, Jonathan Bernier, had to be helped off the ice with 30 seconds remaining in the contest and did not return.
Their #1 centre, Marc-Andre Cliche of Team Canada WJC fame, was nailed open-ice by Halifax defenceman Jiri Suchy, and left the game with a possible concussion and possible jaw problems.
Finally, their backup goaltender, 16-year-old Peter Delmas, hurt himself during the overtime and stayed down on the ice for several moments. He did however manage to get up and finish off the game, but is still being listed as having a day-to-day injury.
The MAINEiacs have flown in emergency call-up goaltender Marc-Andre Sauve for this weekend's games. Sauve is 18 years old and was an 8th round pick of the MAINEiacs in 2005. He has yet to appear in a QMJHL game. Whether or not Lewiston will start Sauve tonight, or perhaps roll the dice with the "day to day" injured Delmas, I do not know. It seems as though Bernier has little chance of playing this weekend.
For more information, please follow this link to an article by the Lewiston Sun Journal's Justin Pelletier: http://www.sunjournal.com/story/196405-3/LocalSports/Loss_to_Halifax_proves_costly/
Without Bernier and Cliche, Lewiston is not as tough an opponent, and Cape Breton's chances of winning likely increase. However, at this time of year, what is most important it gauging how our team stacks up against the best in the league. For that reason, I was really looking forward to seeing how the Eagles would respond to the challenge of two games against the FULL Lewiston team. The Eagle players now also have the challenge of not letting themselves get too comfortable with the knowledge that Lewiston will likely be missing these players. They can still score without Cliche, and any goaltender they throw at us could stand on his head on any given night and send us tumbling to a demoralizing loss.
Cape Breton will have to focus now more than ever. One thing is for sure: as said in the opening line of this blog, the plot has certainly thickened.
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4 comments:
Very interesting indeed. I agree with you though - it would have been nice to play, and defeat, a full Lewiston team. Now if we win, it will be said that there was a good reason for Lewiston to lose. Mind you, we still have to win!
Will the weather be a factor? I have been listening to the radio to all the cancelations for the day and evening, but there has been no mention of the game. I think I may have heard once, that it will go as planned. It doesn't matter to me - I plan on taking my 4-wheel drive dually if there is a game. It will be harder to find a parking place, but not going isn't an option. If there is a game, I will be there cheering the team on! GO EAGLES GO!!
Great game tonight! Pavelec and Sheppard were great picks as stars, but really.. we could have had Ouellet, or Fergus, or McIlveen, or Gauthier, or .... you get the picture. Everyone stepped up and played their game! The only downer to the evening was the weather, because Centre 200 would have been packed if not for the blizzard! Hopefully tomorrow evening will be better weather-wise as I think there were even more tickets sold for Saturday - a sell-out, as was announced.
And another great game just realized! The Penguins just won in a shoot-out against the Dallas Stars. Marc-Andre Fleury was great, stopping all three shooters in the shoot-out!
After watching Saturdays game, i was impressed with how well the team played against a very hard working,fast Lewiston team. A great effort! Luc Bourdon must be still nursing a sore ankle as his play was very ordinary at best. I did hear from a source very close to Moncton's team last year that Bourdon has motivational issues, he only played on Moncton's second PP unit last year so thats all he gave them, 2nd status. I hope this proves untrue this year as we need him to play like the star he can be.
Saturday's game was fantastic! The guys played great - they were quick (Paul McIlveen looked like he was on a mission all evening!), they were sharp, they were tough, and Ondrej Pavelec was in top form! As fans, we couldn't have asked for much more! I really don't think that the Maineacs can say that not having Bernier and Cliche in the lineup made any difference. The way the Eagles played, they could have had the same result with a full Lewiston team! Let's keep up the effort by taking down Rimouski, Drummondville, and Moncton as well. GO EAGLES GO!
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