PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle Wildcats begin what they hope will be a lengthy playoff journey when Camden Hills pays a visit for a 6 p.m. quarterfinal match Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Forum.
Presque Isle grabbed the No. 3 seed for the Class B North tournament, while Camden Hills comes in as the sixth seed.
The teams split during the season, with the Wildcats losing at home on Dec. 8 by a score of 8-5. At Rockport on Jan. 27, Presque Isle claimed a 6-3 triumph.
“I think it’s a good matchup for us,” said Wildcat coach Carl Flynn. “We lost to them the first game of the year despite having the majority of the play in our favor. We found a way to solve their goalie, and I don’t think that they have any particularly strong players that need to be shadowed.
“My hope is that we can play our game and make them adapt to us. We need to take care of the puck, and not leave [goalie] Andre [Daigle] vulnerable. As we tried to do all year, will try to run three lines against their two lines and wear them down if possible,” he said.
The first line, made up of all juniors, has Jake Stevens (nine goals and a team-leading 18 assists) as the center and Thomas Patenaude (a team-best 13 goals and 11 assists) and Bailey York (10 goals and nine assists) on the wings.
The second line has freshman Colby Carlisle (nine goals and 13 assists) at center and sophomore Connor DeMerchant (eight goals and 10 assists) and freshman Gage LeTourneau (10 goals and 11 assists) on the wings.
Junior Riley Kinney (nine goals) centers the third line, a checking line which has included sophomore Colby Bonville and seniors Devin Ireland and Colin Daigle.
Junior Torey Levesque (three goals and six assists), senior Eric Benson, freshman Noah Roy (five assists) and sophomore Tanner Smith (seven assists) are the primary defensemen.
Flynn said Andre Daigle, a junior with a 3.55 goals against average, has improved immensely as the season has progressed.
The winner moves on to the semifinals at Colby College in Waterville Saturday, March 3, against No. 3 Waterville-Winslow. If it’s Presque Isle, the game time will be 5 p.m.
The Wildcats split their regular season matches against Waterville-Winslow.
“They are another team which I think we match up well against,” Flynn said. “They do have at least one player that we will need to pay particular attention to and I think we need to get more pressure on their goaltender then we did during the regular season.”
The other quarterfinal matchup has No. 5 Houlton/Hodgdon/Southern Aroostook/Katahdin (8-9-1) traveling for a 5 p.m. Tuesday game at No. 4 Hampden Academy (12-6).
“Either team is capable of winning that game,” Flynn said. “Both teams are quite aggressive.”
The winner plays No. 1 Old Town/Orono in the semifinal round on Saturday.
“Although they are 17–1, they still have vulnerabilities and either team could beat them in a semifinal matchup,” Flynn said.
