It was a busy three days on the ice for the Lac La Biche Junior B Clippers. They wrapped up their regular Northeast Alberta Junior B season on Friday night in second place overall after a loss to the first-place Wainwright Bisons. And in the next two days, rebounded by putting themselves two games up in their best of seven first round of playoffs against the Vermilion Tigers.
The Clippers finished the regular season with 27 wins and five losses in 32 games. The Tigers finished with just nine wins, 21 losses, one tie and one overtime loss.
The opening two games of the playoffs were held at the Bold Center, and the Clippers gave the hometown fans something to cheer about — beating the Bisons 9-2 on Saturday night and 6-2 in Sunday afternoon's tilt. The Clippers' Dawson Boucher earned a hat-trick in the Friday night game and assisted on four of the six goals in Saturday's win.
After the weekend's playoff performance by the Clippers, the team's head coach, Stan Houle was happy with the players' hard work, and felt confident now that the team has a full bench — despite some minor injuries.
"A good weekend for us. More bodies now, most of the guys have returned, so good games for us. There are still a few missing and a couple of injuries — but a good start for us in the play-offs," said Houle.
The bench boss hopes his team can keep up their game-faces, showing discipline and strong skating — like they have all year — as the go into the next two games against the Tigers on the road.
"A little more discipline now, they are picking it up and ready for play-offs... We play Vermillion again on Wednesday and Thursday. The rink is a little smaller so the game will be a little more physical with some more hits," said the coach, adding that the games with Vermilion are a great stepping stone to get his team ready for tougher teams to come. "Two more wins and we get to the second round. We might face Killam afterwards. It will get harder as we move forward and we are ready for it... The boys are pumped."
The Clippers and the Tigers play their third game in the best of seven in Vermillion is this Wednesday, Feb 20. The puck drops at 8:30 pm.
