Northern Subway Selects start playoffs this weekend
Like any hockey team, the Northern Subway Selects will be counting on their veterans when they start the Nova Scotia Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs this weekend.
“We rely on those who have been around – the sophomores and seniors,” said assistant coach Steve Halliday, who said the veterans are expected to mentor the younger players: keeping them upbeat, highlighting what they do well.
The Selects have speed and size and are a fast puck-moving team, the coach added.
“I would say we are a strong offensive club – we scored the most goals in the league this year.”
The Selects will open a bestof-five playoff series against the East Hants ProCresting Penguins, who finished in third place in the regular season, behind the second-place Selects.
The team finished the regular season with a 4-2 loss to the penguins, which Halliday described as “a good wakeup call for the girls – they realize you cannot take your foot off the gas.”
Metro Boston Pizza was first overall in the regular season, just ahead of the Selects.
With home-ice advantage over the Penguins, the Selects have two home games this weekend to begin the series; Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at noon. Both games will be at the Pictou County Wellness Centre before the series shifts to East Hants next weekend.
“They have a good team, but we’ve shown we can beat them,” said Katie Pentz, a Trenton resident who led the Selects in scoring this season with 12 goals and seven assists in 18 games.
She did acknowledge that with the arrival of the playoffs, the intensity will be ramped up. “A lot more pressure,” she said. “Every team is going to bring up their level (of play) and we’re going to have to match that.”
The playoff champion will advance to Atlantics, which will be held in East Hants this year (the Penguins have an automatic berth at Atlantics). The winner of Atlantics would then travel to Morden, Man. in April to compete for the national championship.