LEWISTON – David Taylor will get his feet wet quickly.
“We’re giving him a chance to get used to the new environment,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “We’ll try to help him make the transition from Midget AAA to Major Junior, and he wants to play.”
Taylor played for College Antoine-Girouard in Midget AAA this season and put up 55 points in 44 games. Last year, Stefan Chaput arrived in Lewiston with just eight games remaining in the regular season.
“It’s the same, but it’s not,” said Jodoin. “(Taylor) went into the first round of his playoffs and his team lost the final game in triple overtime, so he’s used to the pressure of the post-season.”
Taylor will likely suit up right away, but Jodoin was mum on where Taylor might fit regarding line combinations.
“We’ll see where he fits,” said Jodoin. “I have to see him practicing first.”
Indeed, Taylor’s first practice with the team may be against St. John’s this afternoon. The Maineiacs are not planning a morning skate, and Jodoin expects the 16-year-old rookie to be in the lineup against the Fog Devils.
“We’ll see after that.”
Hurting units
The Maineiacs certainly picked a inopportune time to start getting sick and injured.
In Friday night’s game against Acadie-Bathurst, Lewiston sat captain Marc-Andre Cliche, Jakub Bundil, Derek Bailey and Maxime Mathieu, leaving just nine forwards. After a scrap in the third period, seven Lewiston forwards remained on the bench.
The consolation?
Halifax might just be worse off as the two teams head toward a first-round playoff showdown.
Rane Carnegie, who leads the Mooseheads with 96 points, left during the first period of the team’s game against Cape Breton on Friday and resurfaced in the crowd on crutches. The team has already said Carnegie will miss “a few games.”
Also missing in Halifax are Jiri Suchy, Frederick Cabana and Bryce Swan, the latter two are listed as day-to-day.
Date with the Devils
The St. John’s Fog Devils, who visit the Colisee this afternoon, will possibly be without forward Marty Doyle after the brawny forward was slapped with a misconduct penalty Friday for making contact with an official. No official word from the league has indicated a Doyle suspension, but the consistent penalty for the same offense this season has been a five-game suspension.
Otherwise, according to Jodoin, it will be business as usual.
“We have to play our game, play hockey,” said Jodoin. “Pass, skate, shoot, and we can’t worry about their game.”
Cliche and Bundil will be game-time decisions on the injury front for the Maineiacs.
Almost done?
Bailey may have already played in his final game as a Maineiac.
Bailey left the road trip early this week and returned to Lewiston, where he had a scope done on his knee. The team is expecting results of that scope in the next few days. The earliest anyone has pegged the Lewiston forward’s return so far is at the tail end of the second round of the playoffs, should the team advance that far.
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