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It will be one of the toughest tickets in town to obtain.
When Presque Isle and arch-rival Houlton-Hodgdon square off in an Eastern Maine Class B hockey quarterfinal on Monday night at 6 at Presque Isle’s Northern Maine Forum, Presque Isle coach Carl Flynn expects the Forum to be “more than full.
“When we hosted John Bapst last season, we filled it. We had over 1800. I can only imagine what it will be like Monday night,” said Flynn.
The Aroostook County teams had swapped low-scoring regular season games, each winning at the other’s rink.
Presque Isle beat Houlton-Hodgdon 2-1 in overtime early in the season but Houlton-Hodgdon blanked the Wildcats 2-0 earlier this month.
Presque Isle is 11-7-2 and the fourth seed thanks to an 8-1-1 finish while the fifth-seeded Black Hawks are 11-9. The winner will face top-seeded Winslow, 14-5-1, in the semifinals at Winslow’s Sukee Arena on Saturday, March 1 at 5.
John Bapst of Bangor, 14-5-1 and the No. 2 seed, will take on No. 3 Gardiner (13-5-2) at 7:15 in the other semifinal.
Smooth-skating Presque Isle senior defenseman Greg Cyr expects a good battle.
“It should be tight, either way,” said Cyr, who had the opportunity to develop his skills at Hockey Night in Boston last summer in Salem, N.H.
“It was a great opportunity. There were a lot of kids who had a tremendous amount of skill,” said Cyr, who will play a pivotal role in Monday’s game with his skating ability and offensive instincts.
The Wildcats have also been led by left wing Brandon Daigle and center Brennen Shaw, who have each had five-goal games this season.
Daigle has 37 points and Shaw has 31, according to Flynn.
Cyr and center Dylan Collins have over 20 points apiece and Parker Hovey has been exceptional on the blue line.
Ethan Hill has had a strong campaign between the pipes.
Joel Trickey’s youthful Black Hawks, with nine freshmen and five sophomores, have been led by freshman goalie Malik Abouleish and veteran defensemen Zach Chase and Chris McGuire along with forwards Morgan Hall, Craig Buxton, Mike Epley and Taylor Martin.
“Discipline is going to be a key,” said Flynn who anticipates a lot of energy and enthusiasm from both teams. “We’re going to have to stay out of the penalty box; we’re going to need good goaltending and we’ll have to contain their two or three fastest skaters.”
There won’t be many secrets on the ice.
Flynn noted that the players on the two teams have been teammates in youth hockey.
“We know all of them and they know all of us,” said Cyr.
lmahoney@bangordailynews.net
990-8231
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