HOT CORNER: Should be very good IJHL championship series

The Island Junior Hockey League championship series gets underway in Abram-Village on Sunday evening as the defending-champion Arsenault’s Fish Mart Western Red Wings host the Sherwood A&S Scrap Metal Metros.
This is not the championship series that local fans expected to see, as a lot thought it would be another Kensington-Western matchup. To their credit, the Metros made sure that didn’t happen, and have shown they are a force to be reckoned with. They fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Kensington, and will give the Wings everything they can handle.
Former Western Capital Alex Kelly supplies the Metros with great goaltending, and he could turn out to be the difference in this series.
The Wings won five of the eight regular-season meetings, and finished 13 points ahead of the second-place Metros. The Wings are the favourites, but, as we know, anything can happen in junior hockey. This will be a very good series!

Click here for series preview for Red Wings and Metros:

Kensington Vipers
The success the Kensington Moase Plumbing and Heating Vipers have had in the Island Junior Hockey League is unparalleled, and quite likely will never be matched.
For 15 straight years the Vipers were in the league final, and won 11 of those championships. Until the Red Wings knocked them off last year, the Vipers won seven straight league titles, giving them the most consecutive league championships in the history of junior hockey in our province.
Winning is what this organization has been all about. Without doubt, the three individuals most responsible for that success are owner Pat McIver and longtime coaches Wade Waddell and Trent Leard. These three have done an exceptional job with the Vipers, and should be commended.
The last time we watched a final without the Vipers was way back in 2002, when the O’Leary Eagles beat the Sherwood-Parkdale Falcons.

NHL playoffs
The NHL playoffs get underway in the coming week, and going into weekend action only one sure playoff matchup has been determined. Parity has never been better in the league, and the fact that only one playoff series has been determined this late in the season is proof of that. The Winnipeg Jets will play the Minnesota Wild in the only series that has been determined.
We do know that the Vegas Golden Knights, under the guidance of head coach and Summerside native Gerard (Turk) Gallant, will open at home against a California team, and that will be one of San Jose, Los Angeles or Anaheim. Pick your poison with those three, and although the Knights had an incredible season rewriting NHL expansion record books, they will have their hands more than full with any one of the three possible teams.
Going into this week, the Boston Bruins were in the Eastern Conference driver’s seat, with their fate in their own hands. Losses to Tampa Bay and Florida has put the Lightning back in control, and the Bruins facing a possible first-round series against Toronto – a matchup not many teams would want in the opening round.
Playoff berths and positioning, as well as a lot of money, are on the line going into the last weekend of the regular season. According to Summerside native and Sportsnet analyst Doug MacLean, revenues in the opening round of the playoffs amount to about $10 million per team, and that fact puts the added pressure on teams to make the post-season.  
The Detroit Red Wings will miss the playoffs for a second straight season after 25 straight appearances. The Montreal Canadiens will also miss the post-season, and this is the first time in NHL history that both Detroit and Montreal have missed the playoffs in the same season. I guess I can say, along with a lot of local Montreal fans, Go Knights Go!
Have a great week!

Joe MacIntyre is a Summerside resident. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to [email protected].