Press Release
Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Hockey: Aigles Bleus in Charlottetown on Wednesday
The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (10-8-0-0=20pts,4th position) will cross the Confederation Bridge on Wednesday to face the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (12-5-0-1=25pts, 2nd position) in the resumption of the regular schedule in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey.
Derek Cormier's team has lost its last three games before the holiday break and the players are eager to get back on the road to victory. It won't be an easy task against the tough Panthers who want to prepare well because they will host the U SPORTS Canadian Championship in mid-March. The team lost its last outing. The Panthers' offence has scored 69 goals and allowed 47 compared to 60 and 56 for the Blue and Gold, in 18 games.
According to defenseman Denis Toner, “With many injuries, the holiday season rest has been good. We are confident with the players who play. We finished a little badly before the holidays, we moved on and now it's the beginning of the second half of the year. We will focus on us with important ranking games. We're aiming to get off to a good start on Wednesday. It's a challenge to start against the two top teams, but to get better, you need to beat these teams. We want to start on a good track.”
Coach Derek Cormier knows he's up against these two top teams with an injury-shortened bench. He will still have missing players.
“The players are hungry, the second half of the season is important,” he said. “We begin fast and hard. We must be ready for the next six weeks. We still have injuries to key players. The team will be ready; the others will have the chance to stand out.”
The players who will miss the game are Édouard Saint-Laurent who is suspended for two games, and defensemen Vincent Lanoue and Olivier Desjardins and forward Mika Cyr, who are injured.
Moncton will host first-place University of New Brunswick Reds on Friday at 7 p.m. for their first home game of the second semester. It is therefore a week against the two best teams of the circuit that awaits the Aigles Bleus at the start of the year 2023.
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