PICTOU COUNTY – Not much is going to change when it comes to the Weeks Crushers approach on Thursday night in Game 3 of their Eastlink Division semifinal series against the Truro Bearcats according to Evan Carmody.
He said the team put a plan into place for the series prior to Game 1 and that they carried it over well into Game 2, so they will stick with what they’ve been doing.
“Our first game we got a quick one, which settled the guys down and getting the confidence in our play and our plan early was important,” said Carmody. “Come Thursday night that will continue to be our focus.”
Tuesday’s 4-3 win to take a 2-0 series lead was expected according to Carmody. He said the team knew they’d have close games for the remainder of the series and believes they can be on the winning side if they continue to take away from the Bearcats’ strengths.
Game 3 of the division semifinal is tonight at 7 p.m. in Truro at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.
“Truro had more shots in Game 2 than they did in the opening game, but we cut down on second and third chances, which always proves to be important,” said Carmody. “(Brandon) Thibeau made great saves and had a great game, but to make it easier for him we need to keep them to the outsides and continue to keep the number of multiple chances down.”
Coming to Pictou County in December, Carmody brought a wealth of experience after spending the early part of his career with the Woodstock Slammers, who were runners-up at the RBC Cup last year.
“The biggest thing I learned playing some of the best teams in the country was that you can never get too high or never get too low,” he said. “You just need to go out and play your hardest and stick to your game plan. If you can maintain a focus on those things you just see wait to see how things end up.”
When with the Slammers he said the rival team was the Summerside Western Capitals. After joining Pictou County he quickly learned about the big rivalries with the Ramblers and Bearcats.
“It’s the same kind of thing I saw in Woodstock when we played the Capitals,” said Carmody. “It doesn’t take much to get up for those games because you’re so familiar with those teams and they’re always big matchups within the division. Truro has always been tough to play against even before I came here, but now especially there seems to be that extra drive to want to beat them.”
Since joining the team he has played with a few different players as the coaching staff tried to find good chemistry with line mates. Now paired up with Bruce Hornbrook and Andrew Graham, he said he feels like it’s a great fit.
“Bruce always works his butt off to finish checks and get to pucks, which is huge piece to our line,” said Carmody. “Both he and Andrew are such smart players on what pass to make and how to read the play. Our main focus tends to be not getting scored on and shutting down the line we’re on against, but take the opportunity to get good scoring chances when we can.”
christopher.cameron@ngnews.ca
On Twitter: @NGNewsChris
