Islanders hope to get boost from home crowd
Hockey playoff series shifts to Charlottetown Wednesday night
The Charlottetown Islanders are hoping to get a boost of adrenaline from the home crowd Wednesday night as their playoff series against the Quebec Remparts shifts to the Eastlink Centre.
The teams split the first two games of their best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League series last weekend in Quebec.
Games three, four and five are in Charlottetown, with games six and seven, if necessary, back in Quebec.
"The whole team is energized and excited to get going here on home ice," said Islanders coach and GM Jim Hulton.
"We think momentum is one of the key factors in this series, so tonight we need to create some positive momentum and hopefully the crowd can provide a little bit of extra buzz for us."
Hulton said the team wanted to win at least one game in Quebec, and they did that in the opener on Saturday, 6-2. They lost Sunday's game 3-0.
The Remparts are ranked eighth and the Islanders ninth among the 16 playoff teams. The first two games showed how evenly the clubs are matched, Hulton said, which is why any advantage they can get from the crowd will be welcome.
"Junior jockey is largely fuelled by adrenaline and the crowd can produce a lot of adrenaline for us," he said. "When we get excited, goods things happen with this club."
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With files from Tom Steepe