KENSINGTON – One thing the head coaches of the Kensington Moase Plumbing and Heating Vipers and Sherwood-Parkdale A&S Scrap Metal Metros agree on is their upcoming playoff series will be close.
The two teams, who required overtime in three regular-season meetings, open the best-of-seven semifinal matchup in the Island Junior Hockey League at the Cody Banks Arena in Charlottetown on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 is in Kensington on Sunday at 7 p.m.
“We have played these guys really tight all year, and if you look at the standings there is not a whole lot separating us,” said Metros head coach Alex Smith. “It will be a great series, we are looking forward to it and it should be a lot of fun.”
The Metros completed the 36-game regular season in second place at 19-16-1 (won-lost-overtime losses). Sherwood-Parkdale finished five points ahead of the third-place Vipers (14-16-6).
“It’s going to be a good series,” predicted veteran Kensington bench boss Wade Waddell. “It’s been a long time since we haven’t been a favourite in a series. Our guys are hungry.
“We’ve had some really good practices. When you know who your opponent is you can key in on certain things, and I’m sure they are doing the same.
“The mood is good, and we will be ready to go. I fully expect us to have a great effort Friday night, and another one Sunday. The buzz around the playoffs is always fun, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Click here for preview story on Eastern and Western series:
Click here for story on start of Eastern and Western series delayed until Friday night:
Home-ice advantage
When asked when the last time the Vipers have not held home-ice advantage in a playoff series, Waddell guessed it would stretch back to the early 2000s.
“I’ve been around the league for about 10 years either playing or coaching, and I think Kensington has been in the final series every one of those years,” said Smith. “For us to be playing them in the semis and have the ability to potentially knock them out would be fantastic, but at the same time it’s definitely not something we’ll be taking for granted. They will be looking to win the same way we are.
“They are not a team you can ever take lightly, and I don’t care how their regular season went. Wade and (assistant coach) Trent (Leard) do a great job there, and they’re always ready.”
Another thing Smith and Waddell agree on is they do not expect a lot of high-scoring games.
“We are not going to score a lot of goals,” said Waddell. “The way I look at it is if we can get three or four goals, hopefully it is enough for us to win hockey games.
“It’s not going to be a high-scoring series at all. But that being said, who knows. I expect it to be a low-scoring, physical series, but a lot of times my predictions turn out to be wrong. . . For us to be successful, we have to win the 3-2, 4-3 games.”
Smith offered: “For us, if you look at how we played for most of the year, where a lot of our success came from, we did have a high-scoring team (scoring 161 goals). We had great goaltending from Sam (Walsh) and Alex (Kelly), and they are probably our two biggest pillars on the team. Our one-two (goaltending) punch is as good as anybody in the league. From that perspective, we hope to not let too many in, but at the same time I don’t think it will be 2-1. It will be a lot of 4-3, 5-3 those types of games.”
[email protected]
Twitter.com/JpsportsJason
https://www.facebook.com/jason.simmonds.180
Schedule
Schedule for playoff series between Vipers and Metros:
Game 1
Friday, March 16
7:30 p.m. – Vipers at Metros (Cody Banks Arena).
Game 2
Sunday, March 18
7 p.m. – Metros at Vipers (Credit Union Centre in Kensington).
Game 3
Wednesday, March 21
8 p.m. – Vipers at Metros.
Game 4
TBA
Game 5, if necessary
TBA
Game 6, if necessary
TBA
Game 7, if necessary
TBA
Regular Season
Regular-season meetings between Vipers, Metros:
Oct. 22 – Metros 4 at Vipers 8.
Nov. 1 – Vipers 4 at Metros 5 (OT).
Nov. 22 – Vipers 5 at Metros 12.
Nov. 26 – Metros 2 at Vipers 5.
Jan. 28 – Metros 5 at Vipers 5 (OT).
Feb. 14 – Vipers 2 at Metros 4.
March 11 – Metros 2 at Vipers 1 (OT).
