BAIE-COMEAU | The Baie-Comeau Drakkar, who has been embroiled in a frantic race in recent weeks, is showing plenty of confidence as he begins his round of 16 series against the Moncton Wildcats.
In an intense battle for sixth place in the conference standings, the crew members finally managed to overcome the obstacles and achieve their goal.
The visitors of the first two games of the series, the Nord-Côtiers, who have just won 10 of their last 12 games away from home, will arrive on the ice at Center Avenir with no complexities.
“It’s true that the players behave very well on the street because they play our identity by respecting the concept and defensive style of our team. It is a recipe for success and we must continue in the same direction,” commented driver Jean-François Grégoire.
The next two opponents faced each other twice
regular season.
The Drakkar won the first duel in Moncton 4-3 before seeing the enemy retaliate with a 5-2 victory on the Henry-Leonard Center rink.
“It’s a team that looks very similar to us, with a very precise system of play and faster recovery in attack. Your players will come out full of vigor and we need to find a way to calm the storm in the first few minutes of the game. »
Several rookies will be in their first playoffs and the head coach expects his veterans to take the lead. “We’ve been scouting for players over the holidays because we wanted to improve the climate in our dressing room and we’ve seen some great things over the past few weeks. »
Remote
Goalkeeper Olivier Ciarlo, a key cog in his club’s recent success, will be another key element in this clash, which will be played in a 2-3-2 format due to the distance between the two cities.
The Drakkar players took off Thursday noon to fly to New Brunswick.
The last time the two clubs met in the playoffs was in 2019, when the Wild Cats surprised Baie-Comois by winning seven games in the first round.
The Drakkar have not made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2015.