SPRINGHILL – The 2013 Nova Scotia Junior C Hockey League playoff season starts tonight for the Amherst Colts when they host the Shannon Park Huskies at 7:30 p.m. in Springhill.
“Our scheduled got turned around because of the storm last weekend,” said Grove Sutton, Colts general manager. “We were supposed to play our first two games in Shannon Park Saturday and Sunday because they have home ice advantage, but the weather changed that and we’re playing in Springhill tonight.”
The best-of-five quarterfinal matchup pits the fourth place Huskies against the fifth place Colts. The two teams went 2-2 against each other during the regular season.
“The Huskies have a good skating team and they move the puck well, so we’re going to have to skate with them and dump pucks in,” said Sutton.
The Colts are coming off a 9-7, come-from-behind win against the South Shore Wild.
“That game was a good confidence builder going into the playoffs,” said Sutton.
He wants the Colts to hit the ground running against the Huskies but also wants his players to keep mistakes and penalties to a minimum.
“We need to cut down on turnovers in our end of the rink and the neutral zone, get pucks down low and work in their end of the rink as much as we can,” said Sutton.
Sutton is confident in the Colts chances of winning the series.
“We split the season series with them, and if we play the way we’re capable of playing we should give them a good series,” said Sutton. “And we’ve gone down there and beat them in their barn, so the boys are pretty confident we can play well against this team.
“But the playoffs are a whole new game, so we’ll have to wait and see how we do.”
The Colts are presently scheduled to play the second game of the series Saturday night in Springhill at 6:30 p.m. but the schedule isn’t written in stone and the Colts might get word to play the second game Friday night in Shannon Park.
The puck drops for tonight’s game at 7:30 p.m.
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
