Petes to face Frontenacs
Uncertain when defenceman Matt Timms will be ready to return to Petes lineup
The Peterborough Petes will play the Kingston Frontenacs in the OHL’s Eastern Conference semifinal beginning Thursday night at the Memorial Centre.
The No. 4 seed Frontenacs beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime of Game 7 of their quarter-final match Tuesday night to advance to face the No. 1 seed Petes. Game 2 is Sunday with both games 7:05 p.m. starts.
The other conference semifinal will pit the No. 2 seed Mississauga Steelheads against the No. 3 seed Oshawa Generals.
The Western Conference semifinals will see the No. 1 seed Erie Otters face the No. 4 seed London Knights who won Game 7 of their series Tuesday night against the Windsor Spitfires 3-2!!br0ken!! The No. 2 seed Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds will face the No. 3 seed Owen Sound Attack.
While awaiting an opponent, the Petes practised Sunday through Teesday unsure of who their next opponent would be.
Matthew Timms has not participated in practice since suffering a shoulder injury in Game 3 of the Petes four-game sweep of the NIagara IceDogs.
Timms is showing progress and working out off the ice but his timeline for a return is uncertain. The Petes are saying he is day-to-day.
The Petes focus in practice was simply on their game. It will be a week between games by the time they hit the ice for Game 1.
“It gives us a little more time to practice and get a break because I know it’s going to be a long haul after that,” said Tyler Rollo. “The whole idea here is we need to play our game and if we do that we’ll be fine.”
“We’ll just keep practising and not really think about who we are playing,” said Semyon DerArguchintsev.
“We can’t really do anything about that. We just need to work hard and wait to find out the team. We’re going to be more prepared for the first game and they’re obviously going to be a little more tired than us but I still don’t think it’s going to be easy for us.”
That doesn’t mean they weren’t paying attention to the other series.
“We are checking who is winning,” Der-Arguchintsev said.
Petes coach Jody Hull said his staff broke down video for both potential opponents to begin preparation.
“We’ll dive into more things once we know who we are going to play,” he said, ahead of Tuesday’s game in Kingston.
Either way, Hull says, his team’s main focus was on its own game.
“We’ll prepare for how we play Peterborough Petes hockey and we’ll go from there,” Hull said.
He doesn’t think the quick turnaround or lack of rest for their opponent will be much of a disadvantage.
“This time of year I don’t think that stuff really comes into play. You’re playing on emotion, you’re playing on passion. You can get your rest when the playoffs are over. That’s how I’ve experienced it as a player.”
Tickets for round two are on sale at the PMC box office. Petes season ticket holders have until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to secure their seats for round two before they go on sale to the general public.