Islanders riding on McDonald’s confidence
Mason McDonald is a confident goaltender right now, and the Charlottetown Islanders are reaping the rewards.
The Calgary Flames prospect and World Junior goaltender has started each of the Islanders’ last six games, helping his team to a 5-1 record over that stretch and a big 10 points in the tight QMJHL standings.
With the way he’s been playing, it’s no wonder he’s been getting the starts.
In his last six games, McDonald has posted a 1.81 GAA, a 0.944 SAV%, and two shutouts, earning him QMJHL First Star of the Week honours for the week of Jan. 25. In the 21 games he played this season prior to this stretch, his numbers hadn’t been stellar: a 3.93 GAA, a 0.884 SAV%, and no shutouts.
It’s a snowball effect for McDonald. With each game he plays well, he gains more confidence. And the more confidence he gains, the better he plays.
“Building off the last game, that’s all I can really do. You’re as good as your last game, as good as your last practice and that’s what I’m going off right now.”
It began back on Jan. 17 against the Halifax Mooseheads, when the Islanders played a shutdown game that left McDonald with only 19 saves to make, and earning him his first shutout of the season.
“It feels great (to) get some confidence back in my game after some rough games there,” he said after that game.
The Islanders obviously want to go with the hot goaltender between the pipes as they push for the playoffs, leaving the Islanders’ coaches with the task of finding the balance between keeping McDonald hot and not letting Matt Welsh get cold on the bench.
“It’s a fine line, but we’ve got a lot of hockey coming up,” said Head Coach Jim Hulton. “We’ve had some rest here – it’s one of the few stretches in the second half of the season where we get rest – so we want to try to use Mason accordingly. When you look forward to February, we have three-game weeks the entire month, so there’s going to be a lot of time for Matt to play.”
McDonald and the Islanders are back on the Eastlink Centre ice for a midweek game against the Shawinigan Cataractes on Wednesday night. Tickets can be purchased at the Eastlink Centre Box Office, by phone at (902) 629-6625, or online at www.eastlinkcentrepei.ca.
