Kyle Ward scored the Blizzard’s first goal, Wednesday night in Summerside. Photo courtesy Marc Grandmaison
The fourth game of the series was played Wednesday night in front of 1,502 spectators gathered at Credit Union Place in Summerside. The sell-out fifth game will be played at the Jean-Daigle Center of Edmundston on Saturday, April 7, starting at 7:30 pm.
The Blizzard managed to take the lead twice in the game but the second period was fatal to them. The Western Capitals hit with their favorite weapon: the power play. They scored three times with one more player on the ice. Weak consolation for the Blizzard who scored its first power play goal in this series.
Edmundston opened the score quickly with Kyle Ward’s spectacular goal just 47 seconds from the start of the game. However, the Western Capitals responded with two goals in a row, Cam Roberts (2:45) and Kallum Muirhead (11:28).
The Blizzard came out strong again early in the second by scoring twice, goals from Vincent Rioux (0:28) and Gabriel Vanier (4:27). Edmundston took the lead 3-2. Then it was not as glorious for the visitors when Summerside struck with three consecutive golas, those of Chris Chaddock (11:29), Morgan MacDonald (12:31) and TJ Shea (18:58). After 40 minutes of play, the Capitals had a two-goal lead (5-3).
In the third period, Alexandre Jacob brought the Blizzard to within a goal by scoring at 17:34. Ryan Savlis replaced his goalkeeper Francis Asselin with a sixth player but the Western Capitals, through TJ Shea, quickly pushed the puck into an empty net to prevail 6-4.
Rookie defenseman Jordan Spence had a special night for the Western Capitals collecting five assists. His teammate Brodie MacArthur had three assists to take his scoring streak to 45 games, regular season and playoffs combined.
Edmundston led 43-32 in shots on goal. Dominik Tmej was between the pipes for Summerside.
In the South finals, Yarmouth beat South Shore 5-3, Wednesday night, to take a 3-0 lead in the series.
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone