Caps Lose Captain to Injury

Stay Tuned!

Photos
Videos
Poll

View Complete Photo Galleries

Corcoran's OT Winner

Brett Gallant vs. Graham Telford

View our Video Collection

Tuesday, April 7th 2009

Caps lose captain to injury

JASON SIMMONDS
The Journal Pioneer

SUMMERSIDE -- The Summerside Western Capitals will be without captain Brett Gallant when the Maritime Junior 'A' Hockey League's Kent Cup final resumes in Truro, N.S., tonight.
Gallant was injured in the second period of the Caps' 3-0 victory over the Truro Bearcats in Game 1 of the best-of-seven before almost 3,400 fans in Summerside on Sunday night.
"Brett dislocated his shoulder and they put it in place last night at the hospital," said Capitals head coach Kenny MacDougall. "It's amazing actually as he feels 100 per cent better today than he did last night.
"He's going to physio and he's icing it. If things go well, he might have an opportunity to get back in before the series is over. It's a lot better than it looked at first."
Gallant has 15 points, including five goals, in nine playoff games.
"It's a loss for our lineup for sure," added MacDougall following Monday afternoon's practice. "Brett's our emotional leader and he's proven himself to be an extremely skilled hockey player this year. It certainly affects our power play because he's a key player.
"We have lots of guys who can jump up into that spot. It's a good thing we can take guys off our fourth line and put them on the first and not skip a beat."
MacDougall expects six-foot-three, 210-pound Will Johnston will take Gallant's spot on a line with Bradley Smith and Mike MacIsaac, who will be back in the lineup after sitting out a one-game suspension.
"Will's a big guy, is strong and has a tremendous amount of skill," said MacDougall. "When he brings a work ethic to his game, he can dominate.
"We're really looking for a big game from him and I know he's excited about playing up in the lineup, too."
The Capitals, who are 9-0 (won-lost) in the post-season, limited the Bearcats to just 20 shots in the series opener.
"We've been working hard all season on our defensive game," said MacDougall. "We like to play a puck-possession game, so the more we have the puck on our stick the less opportunity they have to get shots on net.
"We did a good job of hemming them in their end, having control of the puck, not making bad decisions, cycling the puck, keeping it deep and when we were in our end we were in good position."

jpsports@journalpioneer.com