The Summerside Western Capitals have selected Lance Pridham as their 2011-2012 Top Defenseman and Playoff MVP.
We asked Lance about the 2011-12 season and how he saw the progression of a young core of players throughout the year.
Playoffs
Pridham, a native of Alberton, notched 7 points in 10 playoff games including 3 points in game number 4 against
the Dieppe Commandos. “I think that gradually throughout the season I started to feel more confident on the ice, confident
with my decisions and with the puck. I was able to get an opportunity on the power play in that game against Dieppe and
things just seemed to be going my way that day.” Pridham would finish with a power play goal and two helpers as the Caps
rallied from 4-0 down to win the game 5-4.
Throughout the playoffs not only did Lance provide solid offensive numbers, he also battled through games 2 through 4 of
the Woodstock series with a sprained MCL that he suffered during game 1 in Woodstock. “In the first minute of the game, a few
seconds into my first shift the puck was kind of bouncing around in the neutral zone as they (Woodstock) were coming full speed
ahead. I tried to just step up to keep the puck in and I was a little bit off balance. As I hit the puck I took a knee-on-knee hit and
I went down with a sprained MCL.” The injury would not sideline him for any game-time as he suited up for game 2 just three days
later. “It was pretty tough (coming back), obviously with playoffs you never want to be sitting in the stands with an injury, so guys
were willing to play through a lot of things just to be a part of the playoffs.” Lance credits Ralph Manning for getting him back on
the ice so quickly. “I had a few days off, game 1 was Sunday and then game 2 was Wednesday so I was able to rehabilitate my
knee quite a bit in those couple of days off. Also, with Ralph Manning being with our team he was able to fix me up well enough
that I was able to play game 2.”
Number seventy-seven also helped anchor a young core of Caps defensemen. At 19 years of age Pridham provided leadership
to his younger team mates, including Rookie Of The Year co-winner and defense partner, Harrison Wood. “We knew we’d be
young and inexperienced going into the playoffs but I feel like the younger guys really stepped into their roles very nicely. They
looked like they were seasoned veterans out there.”
Lance emphatically credited the 20 year old veteran players for guiding the younger players through their first MHL playoff
series. “We had good leaders in Marshall Ellis, Jordan Costello and Steven Brazil. They did a good job leading the way and making
the young guys feel comfortable in the playoffs. The young guys did a good job sticking to their roles and playing the same game
that they did all season, which is what got us into the playoffs.” Lance also shared what his advice was for the rookie defensemen.
“With lots of young defensemen its easy for them to get down on themselves, especially as a defenseman. Whenever you make a
mistake, usually everyone in the rink sees it, so just for them to realize that if you do make a mistake you have to put it behind
you and come back next shift with a clean slate. You can’t get too high with the highs or low with the lows.”
Looking To Next Year
As the Caps look forward to next season and the 2013 Royal Bank Cup, Lance feels that the team is in a good position. “I feel like
the team sets up pretty well with Pat (McIver) being involved with the organization. Obviously he has a lot of hockey experience
and he’s a real competitive individual so he’s going to do everything in his power to ice a real competitive team next year. I think
that’s what the organization needs, someone with the knowledge and the experience to be able to put together a good team to
host the Royal Bank Cup.”
We would like to thank Lance for taking the time to answer our questions and we would alsolike to congratulatehim on winning
Playoff MVP and Top Defenseman for the 2011-12 season.
Annual Awards Posted Under Link
Posted
by: admin
Monday, April 02, 2012
The Summerside Western Capitals have posted the winners for 14 of their annual awards under the link on the left hand side of your screen. Congratulations to all winners!
Slammers sweep Capitals
Posted
by: admin
Monday, March 26, 2012
Slammers sweep Capitals
Jason Simmonds/Journal Pioneer
Summerside Western Capitals forward Marshall Ellis, playing in his final junior A hockey game, beats Woodstock Slammers goaltender Sam Renault for a late third-period goal in Sunday night¡¯s 5-2 loss at EastLink Arena.
The Woodstock Slammers dethroned the Summerside Western Capitals by completing a four-game sweep of the Roger Meek Division championship series on Sunday night. The Slammers will face the winner of the Maurice Bent Division to earn the right to represent the league at the Fred Page Cup Eastern Canadian junior A hockey championship in Kanata, Ont.
"The goal is to always try to win your division, and earn the right to compete for the Kent Cup," said Slammers head coach Jason Tatarnic. "That¡¯s what we did.
"We have an opportunity to win a championship, but we know we are going to be facing a good team in either Yarmouth or Amherst."
The Slammers, who outscored the Caps 23-5 in the four games, improved to 8-0 (won-lost) in the post-season.
"We¡¯ve performed real well," assessed Tatarnic. "We created a lot of offence, and kept the puck out of the net for the most part."
Capitals head coach Billy McGuigan admitted after the series-clincher that his young team was in tough.
"Going into it we believed we could make some noise," said McGuigan. "Woodstock was the better team and a bigger team, but the guys never stopped believing."
Big second period
Before 760 fans at EastLink Arena, the Slammers erupted for four second-period goals to turn a 1-0 deficit after 20 minutes into a 4-1 lead at the end of two.
One of the key factors in the series ¨C the Caps¡¯ inability to connect on the power play ¨C played a big role in Game 4. Trailing 3-1, the Caps were unable to score during a two-minute power play for approximately two minutes. Then as Woodstock captain Andrew Langan came out of the penalty box to make it 5-on-4, he was sent in on a short-handed breakaway from centre ice and made no mistake beating Caps goaltender Jared Kelly high on the stick side.
"We¡¯re a well-conditioned hockey team, and we like to play a high-tempo game," said Tatarnic. "The Caps tried to do that in the first, and I¡¯m not sure if it was a combination of them running out of steam or we started moving the puck and supporting the puck better."
Power-play struggles
In the four games overall, the Caps went 2-for-25 on the power play while Woodstock had a 5-for-21 summary. The Caps went 0-for-5 in Game 4.
"We did a lot of work prior to the series (on special teams)," said Tatarnic. "We went through game tape from throughout the season, and studied their power play. We studied it throughout the (first-round) Dieppe series as well."
Two-goal effort
Ben MacSwain of Charlottetown scored twice for the Slammers, who also received single goals off the sticks of Tim Campbell (1-2) and Ryan Purvis. Evan Carmody of Charlottetown chipped in with a single assist.
Mike Szmatula gave the Caps a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 4:18 of the first period. Marshall Ellis, playing in his final junior A game, closed out the game¡¯s scoring with a short-handed breakaway goal at 14:41 of the third period. Another Caps¡¯ graduate, captain Steve Brazil, chipped in with an assist.
Overall, the Slammers outshot the Caps 35-25. Matt Murphy earned the goaltending win, and he was relieved by Sam Renault following the Slammers¡¯ fifth goal. Summerside starter Landon Noel allowed three goals on 21 shots before he was pulled in favour of Kelly, who stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced over the final 30:55.
Referee Tim Hamel called 10 minors and two 10-minute misconducts against the Capitals. The Slammers picked up seven minors and one double minor for roughing after the whistle.
The game¡¯s three stars were:
1. Ben MacSwain (Slammers), 2. Tim Campbell (Slammers), 3. Marshall Ellis (Caps).
Post-game message
In his post-game address, McGuigan told the players to hold their heads high.
"I told them I was proud of them," said McGuigan. "What coach wouldn¡¯t be proud of them with the way those guys worked?"
.png)
