Claimed:The Waiting Game [DD] [Reviewed]

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The Waiting Game

 

The Brampton Blades ended the season in first place in the North American Conference giving them a first round bye in the playoffs. They have sat idly as the Yukon Rush and Ottawa Lynx have played to a 3-1 series favoring Yukon. The series between the two has been very close, three of the four games being decided by one goal including a six overtime game four. The Blades will be anxiously awaiting the results of the next set of games which will determine who they will play for their first appearance in the playoffs this year.

 

Looking at their record against each team, the played the Rush and Lynx ten times a piece, going 6-3-1 against both teams. They had a better goals against to goals for ratio against the Lynx as they had 26 goals for, 17 against them and 24 goals for, 23 against the Rush. They also had a 34.21% power play percentage against the Lynx compared to 15.56% against the Rush. Interestingly, their penalty kill percentage was better against the Rush than against Ottawa, 90.32% compared to 82.93%.

 

I guess if one had to choose who to face in the playoffs, in this situation, Ottawa is the lesser of two evils. Comparing records is pretty much a wash. An eight percent difference in penalty kill percentage doesn’t seem like much but that means almost one out of every ten opportunities ends in a goal.  We asked Daryl Dortch of the Brampton Blades what he thought of the match ups and who he would prefer to face off against.

 

“I think it would be pretty cool to play against the team that gave my player agency’s first player his start in the league and that would be the Ottawa Lynx.  Their GM has been doing this a while and he’s had some success recently so to knock off a top dog would be great. That’s not to say Yukon isn’t a team worthy of a cup but I, unfortunately, am not very familiar with the team. Better the Devil you know and all that.”

 

He also gave us some predictions on the playoffs.

 

“I think it’s going to come down to physical play. Whoever can lay the lumber is going to come out on top. Now I don’t mean reckless hits, I’m talking calculated, carefully placed hits. The other guys better keep their head on a swivel, I’m gonna be coming for them. I know I wasn’t very effective on the body during the regular season but I’ve had plenty of time to watch tape and learn the skaters’ tendencies with this first round bye. I think we have a really good shot to make it to the Finals. Either team we face is going to be tired from the long series they’ve played already so that gives us a leg up in that regard. I really like the way this team has played as of late and I don’t expect any of that to change.”

 

We’ll have to see if DD will be eating his words come Finals time or if his predictions come true. Stay tuned for the next edition following the next round of playoff games.

 

(533 words)

[CowboyinAmerica 2,840]

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