Eagles Visit Charlottetown For First Matchup Of The Season

The Cape Breton Eagles have headed over to the rival island for a pair of weekend games against the Charlottetown Islanders.

The Eagles are coming off a wild overtime victory that saw them both relinquish multiple leads and also battle back from a two goal deficit as they topped the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 6-5. Luke Patterson was the overtime hero, while Lucas Romeo led the attack with two goals.

Tonight Romeo plays his old team, but he’s not the only player facing a familiar opponent. For the first time in his now five year QMHL career, Nicolas Ruccia will play against Cape Breton. Ruccia was the 17th overall pick in the 2020 QMJHL draft for the Eagles, and helped lead them into the third round of the playoffs last year. This year he’s had the bulk of the workload for a rebuilding Islanders team, appearing in ten of the 14 Charlottetown games. (Another former Eagle, Will Shields, missed Charlottetown’s game on Saturday after a scary incident on Friday in which he was taken from the ice on a stretcher. Thankfully, he was released from hospital on Saturday.)

Some of the Islanders’ brightest lights are on the backend. Last season, Marcus Kearsey placed in the top ten among defensemen in scoring, and attended Detroit Red Wings training camp this September. Owen Conrad is a player who is hoping to hear his name called this season, having been given a “B” ranking by NHL Central Scouting, indicating potential to be drafted in the second or third round.

Venue: Eastlink Centre, Charlottetown, PEI

Puck drop: 7 PM AST

Web coverage:https://shorturl.at/c1Hbr

Television: Eastlink

Radio Coverage: 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com

Twitter: @cbehockey

Live stats: https://chl.ca/lhjmq-eagles/gamecentre/31242/