Navy Vets Playoff Preview

Thursday, 29 February 2024 10:45

It is the start of the Woodstock Navy Vets charge to the Schmalz Cup. Their quarter-final series against Paris gets underway tonight at the Brant Sports Complex.

WOODSTOCK - The chase for the Schmalz Cup is underway.

For the Woodstock Navy Vets, their first obstacle will be the Paris Titans.

Head Coach, Darren Young says the staff is giving a certain message to their players.

"Definitely can't take them lightly. I know their record says what it does, but they've been competitive. I think they beat us and New Hamburg, the first-place team in the same weekend. They have talent, they have accumulated talent over the year, they are a dangerous team."

Here are some of the regular season stats from the head-to-head matchup between the two clubs. 1) The Vets were able to win 6 of the 7 meetings against Paris in the regular season. 2) They outscored the Titans 32-15 in the 7 games. 3) Nolan Brett led the Vets in scoring in the 7 games against Paris with 10 goals and 5 assists while Davin Gray had 2 goals and 9 assists. 4) Tyler Bouck played all 7 games in the net recording 6 wins and recording 2 shutouts allowing only 11 goals. 5) The Vets were 5 for 24 on the powerplay for 20.8% while the Titans could only record 2 goals in 15 powerplay chances. 6) The Vets shut out the Titans 4-0 in each of the last 2 games against each other.

But as everyone knows in the game of hockey, the postseason is a different beast and the Vets will have to have a different mindset heading into the quarter-final series.

Young mentions the veterans will play a huge role in a long playoff run.

"You're going have to have some of those leaders and some of those older guys kind of be a sounding board for some of those younger guys. The game is going to change a little bit, it's going to be a little bit different."

He says, he thinks game one will be a little bit different for the first-year players, but once the series gets a few games in they will settle and be able to think about just playing another game.

It is an atypical start to the series because the lower seed is hosting game one, but the Vets will have home-ice advantage for the series.

To keep home ice, the Vets will host games two, four, five, and 7, with games five and 7 being if necessary.

Game one goes tonight (Thursday, February 29th) at the Brant Sports Complex with puck drop at 7:30.

The rest of the series schedule looks like this;

Game#2 Friday, March 1 in Woodstock @ 7:45 pm
Game#3 Sunday, March 3 in Paris @ 7:30 pm
Game#4 Tuesday, March 5 in Woodstock @ 7:45 pm
Game#5 Friday, March 8 in Woodstock @ 7:45 pm (if necessary)
Game#6 Saturday, March 9 in Paris @ 7:30 pm (if necessary)
Game#7 Monday, March 11 in Woodstock @ 7:45 pm (if necessary)