After ousting the Maple Leaf Athletic Club in two straight games, the St. Albert Flyers will face off against the Spruce Grove PAC Saints in the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League playoffs.
Game one in the best-of-five north conference semifinal goes Thursday at 8 p.m. at Tri-Leisure Centre. Game two is 6:15 p.m. Saturday at Grant Fuhr Arena.
The series shifts to St. Albert for games three and four Tuesday at 8 p.m. and Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Game five is March 5 at 8:15 p.m. at Tri-Leisure.
In the standings the second-place Saints (25-6-3) finished five points ahead of the third-place Flyers (22-8-4) but St. Albert took the season series 2-1 and outscored Spruce Grove 13-10 overall.
“We have to put a lot of pressure on their defence. They're strong on the back end,” said head coach Rick Thomson. “We have to play our game and simply outwork them. It will come down to goaltending too.”
The Flyers will start Jacob Bilodeau (11-7-4, 2.91 GAA) in game one.
“He's been playing real strong,” Thomson said. “My plan right now is not to run him through the series but if he shows that he deserves to keep playing then that opportunity is his to take.”
Thomson said in the first playoff round he saw some defensive holes the Flyers must correct.
“We have to take control of the middle of the ice and keep the pucks on the outside better than we were and make sure we identify their top guys.”
Last week the Flyers handed the sixth-place Leafs (17-11-6) losses of 5-2 and 7-4 in the playoff sweep. Evan Warmington had three goals and three assists in the series. Liam McNamara also stepped up with two goals and two assists. The pair worked in synch with Josh Jewell on a line that combined for five goals and nine assists.
Outshot 14-3 in the first period of game one, the Flyers escaped with a scoreless tie. Between periods Thomson and assistants Bill Pratt and Sean Tymkow settled the club down. The Flyers eventually returned to form as the shots nearly evened out at 39-37 in favour of the Leafs.
“We had a rough battle in the first period,” Thomson said. “We came into the second period after talking to the guys and basically got pucks deep and cycled down in the corners. We played a strong game from there and took it away from them.”
Thomson said game two was a different start for the Flyers and it showed on the scoreboard. The shots were closer at 10-8 for the Leafs, but the Flyers held a 2-1 lead heading into the second period on goals from McNamara and Carson Samoridny. Warmington popped two in and Brent McGugan added a single to make it 5-2. The Flyers didn't let up in the third while totalling 14 shots as Samoridny and McNamara scored.
“We came out ready to play and outworked them. The last couple goals they got were more or less because we let up with the game over by then,” Thomson said. “Warmington came to play. He got some breaks and created his own space. He took the puck to the net and played strong. Liam works hard out there too. That whole line [with Jewell] was working hard. They just go out there and do their jobs.”
