The St. Albert Raiders are playing the waiting game with a first-round bye in the midget AAA playoffs.
Their opponent in the best-of-five north division semifinal will not be determined until next week after the best-of-three opening round series wrap up.
The Raiders (20-10-4) finished second in the north, five points back of the first-place Southside Athletic Club (23-8-3) and four ahead of the third-place Leduc Oil Kings (17-11-6). Last year, the Oil Kings eliminated the Raiders in the fifth and deciding game in the north semifinals.
“I don’t think it matters who we play. We just need to be prepared to play our game and the way we need to play is to be hungry and be a really tough team,” said assistant coach Geoff Giacobbo. “We need to make sure we’re as prepared as possible to compete at the high level necessary in order to be successful in the playoffs.”
With a week to gear up for their first game in the playoffs, the Raiders have been focusing on the essentials needed to make a deep playoff run.
“We’re trying to identify areas of our game that we want to be sharper in. We’re focusing on our special teams and our defensive zones,” said Giacobbo.
Although the Raiders had one of the highest-powered offences in the league with 141 goals, it was the last line of defence that really defined the team’s season. Tanner Kovacs and Wyatt Hoflin combined for a stingy 84 goals against. Those statistics are an encouraging fact when it comes to building in the playoffs, according Giacobbo.
“Good defence wins in the playoffs all the time. It can then relate to good offence,” he said. “With Wyatt and Tanner, we’re in good shape between the pipes. They have both been playing really well. They both finished strong in the last month so we are feeling good about our goaltending.”
Hoflin (9-4, one shutout) had a respectable season with a solid .882 save percentage and 2.99 GAA.
Kovacs (11-6-4, and a league-best four shutouts) put up all-star numbers after playing with the Red Deer Rebels last year. He posted a league-leading .925 save percentage and 1.95 GAA.
“Tanner is a huge part of our team. There are no two ways about it. He’s a calming presence back there. The team has confidence that he’s going to make a big save when we really need it and he’s going to make the routine saves on a regular basis,” said Giacobbo.
