Playoff Previews: First Round - CGY/DCD

[Erik Summers 451]

 

Playoff Previews

First Round: Calgary Wranglers vs D.C. Dragons

 
Probably one of the most exciting matchups of the first round, Calgary vs D.C. has the potential to wow us with star power and keep us on the edge of our seat the whole way. Each team overcame some serious adversity to get to this point and we will explore that further as we look to the road to the playoffs for each.
 

Road to the Playoffs
The North American Conference was a gauntlet this season if you wanted to make it to the postseason. The Wranglers got out to a hot start this season, much to the surprise of many. As many of you know, Calgary was in the middle of serious team drama at the end of last season, with several players wanting off the team entirely. Instead, the GM was replaced, a few major trades occurred, and the Wranglers entered this season with a new mindset and chip on their shoulders.
 
One of the biggest changes for Calgary this season was the addition of goaltender JB Rift. Probably the third or fourth-best goalie this season, Rift recorded a personal best six shutouts this season. Part of that, however, should certainly be credited to one of the best defences in the league. Outside of Jordan Tonn, this is not a defensive core that shows up on the score sheet a lot, but when it comes to playing shutdown-style defence there is no one who compares to Calgary’s blue line.
 
For the Dragons, this is their first playoff appearance in franchise history, and for much of the season, it looked like they had another year to go before they would get here. At the midway point of the season it looked like D.C. was going to finish dead last in the conference, if not in the league. However, the veteran leadership this team acquired in the off-season paid off and the team rallied to make a late-season push for a playoff spot.
 
Somehow, not only did they end up with a spot in the postseason, the Dragons managed to avoid a first-round meeting with Vancouver by just edging out the reigning champion, Seattle Bears, for the third seed. As I mentioned before, the success of this season was largely built on the backs of D.C.'s off-season additions in John Frostbeard, Elasmobranch Fish, and Kallis Kriketers. Acquiring top-tier goaltending, defence, and a possession machine in Frostbeard allowed D.C. to shut down other teams and finish the season with the second-fewest goals allowed in the league.
 

Why Calgary will win
Currently, on a three-game winning streak, Calgary is hot at the right time. The Wranglers had a fierce start to the season and slumped a bit in the middle, but they are hot at the right time and everything seems to be clicking as we enter the playoffs. Cracking forty wins is usually the sign of a real cup contender with every team for the past five seasons who won the cup earning at least that many.
 
One of the many things Calgary has going for them is the best youth line in the league with Ondrej Ohradka, Kris Rice, and Mikko Lahtinen. Despite being the bottom three forwards on the team, this trio combined for a point per game in their rookie season and played a big role in the Wranglers recovery from last season.
 
Calgary’s biggest strength almost matches up well against D.C.’s biggest weakness. D.C. was the second-lowest scoring team to make the playoffs and Calgary made a habit of punishing teams who were unable to sustain consistent offensive pressure. I would call Calgary the moderate favourite in this matchup, especially considering how dominant they were against D.C. in the regular season, going 6-1-1 against them.
 

Why D.C. will win
On the flip side, D.C. has some unique advantages that just might allow them to steal the series. First and foremost among their advantages is playoff experience. For a team that only recently entered the league, the Dragons went out of their way to add a number of players who know was it takes to win in the postseason. In fact, Kallis Kriketers has more playoff wins than most of Calgary’s roster has playoff games played.
 
Similarly, John Frostbeard has two championship rings and is among the league’s experts in what it takes to win a cup. This matches up favourably against a Calgary roster with zero players that have won a cup and only a handful with experience making in our of the first round. That being said, Elasmobranch Fish has so far had the ultimate playoff curse being eliminated from the playoffs in four consecutive first-round game seven losses.
 
I expect this series to be low-scoring and D.C. has typically won those types of games this season. However, they are going to have to find a way to be more offensively productive than they have been all season if they are going to score on what is possibly the best defence in the league.

 

Spoiler

Players Mentioned: @MexicanCow123, @Ricer13, @Beketov, @animal74, @Jubis, @Sharkstrong, @FrostBeard, @hedgehog337

 

[Ricer13 2,776]

Wooo Go Wranglers! Just a side note the AGM was replaced. 

[MexicanCow123 906]

1 hour ago, Ricer13 said:

Wooo Go Wranglers! Just a side note the AGM was replaced. 

Wait what?

[Ricer13 2,776]

Just now, MexicanCow123 said:

Wait what?

In the off-season Dil was fired as AGM and now Cody smith is AGM