Claimed:Now the fun starts

[jRuutu 2,469]

 

All the hard work during the regular season is starting to pay off big time, Saskatoon managed to beat the Brampton Blades 4-2 and move into the finals and play against the Moscow Red Wolves.  I think it will be a interesting series, at least when you think about it now before any of the games have been played. Moscow was the best team in European conference this year with 102 points and Saskatoon was the best team in North American conference with nasty 119 points. Both teams were the only ones who broke the magical 100 point mark this year, so its not a massive surprise that its Moscow and Saskatoon in the finals.

 

Moscow is a typical Russian team in my opinion, a lot of skill, so its extremely crucial that you don´t take any penalties against them. That goes to any hockey game really, but when you are playing against a team with so much potential to score goals, you need to keep all 5 guys on the ice as much as possible.  At the same time, in a somewhat typical Russian fashion, if all that skill is not working together as a team, they will have tough time to get anything done on the ice. You know you had them where you want them, when you see Moscow players holding on to the puck for long periods of time, basically when solo efforts start to get into the picture, your team is close to winning the game. Not sure what it is, but I guess they just lose their trust on the coaches system and try to get things done by themselves? 

 

 

Saskatoon has wider material than Moscow, so we should be able to match some of their top guys with elite level defensive units. Moscow does not really have that luxury, but does not mean they cant still beat us. As mentioned before, you really cant take any stupid penalties if you want to win. On top of that we of course must make sure every guy is ready before each game. Usually you are forced to take penalties or make silly mistakes when your mind is not fully in the game or if you did not prepare well for the game.

 

Getting ready for the games might play bigger part in this series than many think, the distance between Moscow and Saskatoon is fairly massive, a lot of traveling takes place, so its understandable if you are not feeling 100% after traveling the whole day. Will be interesting to see if there is any difference between the teams, you would think both teams and their players are used to traveling by now, but never know. This is bit different than playing few games during the regular season somewhere, this could potentially be a game seven series, both teams have at least three home games then. That is quite few hours spent inside of a plane.

 

I´m expecting a tight series where both teams have a chance to win the cup. Its the two teams who collected the most points during the regular season playing against each other, should be a good one!

[Jericho 917]

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