V-Reds step it up a notch
Published Tuesday September 29th, 2009
The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds are in it to win.
While coach Gardiner MacDougall admits Wednesay's exhibition game against the American Hockey League's Portland Pirates will be "our toughest test by far," in this or any other preseason for that matter, "any time you play, you want to win."
The V-Reds have played other pro affiliates in the past, notably the Saint John Flames and New York Islanders rookie lineups, but those were when those teams were relatively early in their pre-season and still taking shape.
The Pirates team that coach Kevin Dineen will dress Wednesday night will be close to the one that's coming off a 5-1 win over the Manchester Monarchs Sunday night and opens the regular season on the road in Springfield next Saturday against the Falcons.
"We go from maybe being the hunted to being the hunter a little bit," said MacDougall, who put another bullet in the chamber, if you will, in the person of power forward Jeff Lee.
The Edmonton Oiler draft pick arrived on campus Monday. His gear was lost in transit from Springfield, delaying his first practice with his new mates, but MacDougall hopes to have him in the lineup Wednesday.
MacDougall has never seen him play, but Lee comes advertised as a "two way power forward, kind of like a Kevin Henderson." He's a 6'2'', 209-pound left winger, a native of Calgary who earned a scholarship to the University of Fairbanks/Alaska, but opted to leave to play junior for the Edmonton Oil Kings after two years. He scored 22 goals and 40 assists for the Oil Kings as a 20-year-old last year.
Though Wednesday's game represents a step up in competition for the V-Reds. The Pirates are the top affiliate of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and NHL veterans such as Jeff Cowan (413 NHL games) and Joe DiPenta (174 NHL games) were among the latest cuts, along with Portland's leading scorer a year ago, Mark Mancari.
The V-Reds relish the opportunity.
And captain Kyle Bailey, for one, expects to win.
"Absolutely," he said. "One hundred per cent. We're not going to change the way we play. We're going to keep going at them, keep being as aggressive as we can. It's a good chance to stack yourself up against the guys on the other end of the ice and see how you shake up against them."
Bailey realizes it will be a competitive step up, "but we're not going to go in there not thinking we can win. I think we can go out there and give those guys a good game. Will we have to play better than we did this (past) weekend? Absolutely. But by no means is it out of reach."
Bailey, for one, is not intimidated.
"A lot of us are going to have played against some of the guys who are going to be on that team anyway," he said. "It's not like there's anything to be really intimidated about. You've got to embrace it, right? If you want to be a hockey player and you want to move on to the next level, which 99 per cent of the guys in our locker room do, these are the chances you've got to relish. You've got to try to make an impression the best you can. So I'd expect the boys to be going, myself included."
"It's interesting to see how we'll do there," said center Ryan Seymour. "I think we've got the team that can compete with those guys. It should be interesting. If we're going down to play there we're going to win. They're an AHL team, and it's a step down from the NHL, but I think we have a pretty strong team. If we play our game, we can be successful down there."
After the game in Portland, the V-Reds continue their southern swing against NCAA competition, facing the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Saturday in what will be the first game of the season for the Attack, and continuing on to the University of Vermont Sunday to face the Catamounts in what will be their homecoming hockey game, with a sellout crowd of 4,000 plus expected.
The following Friday, the V-Reds are back in the U.S., taking on Providence College Friars, ending their pre-season slate. They open up regular season play in the AUS on Friday, Oct. 16 hosting University of Prince Edward Island Panthers at the Aitken Centre. Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus are in town the following night.
The St. Thomas Tommies head south too. Tommies, coming off a 3-2 road win over the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus Friday night in which rookie goaltender Charles Lavigne made 49 saves, face the Northeastern Huskies of Boston at Matthews Arena Saturday night and meet Sacred Heart University Pioneers of Fairfield, CT in Milford, CT. Sunday.
The Pioneers have yet to name a head coach following the resignation of head coach Shaun Hannah Sept. 9 after 13 seasons at the helm. It will be the first exhibition game for the Pioneers, who play in the 10 team Atlantic Hockey Association along with teams such as Air Force and the Rochester Institute of Technology, but also schedule exhibitions against Division 1 schools. Game time for the Tommies Sunday afternoon is 4:30 p.m. Atlantic.
The Tommies also open up their regular AUS schedule on the Oct. 16-17 weekend with road games against UdeM on the Friday and UPEI on the Saturday night.
More Sports
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
