SMU, StFX to Square off
Courtesy Glenn MacDonald, The Chronicle Herald
LAST YEAR’S FINALISTS in the Atlantic Universities Hockey Conference championship meet again this post-season.
The defending national champion Saint Mary’s Huskies begin their quest for a second consecutive CIS championship banner against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men as the conference semifinals open Friday.
SMU swept the 2010 final in three games.
"We have added motivation after losing to them in the final last year," St. Francis Xavier co-captain Chris Hulit said.
"It’s going to be close; two good teams going head-to-head."
This year’s versions of the Huskies and X-Men are much different breeds from a year ago.
St. F.X. was the Cinderella story of last season’s playoffs. The X-Men knocked off the CIS No. 1 UNB Varsity Reds in a stunning sweep in the semifinals.
The 2011 X-Men won’t catch anyone by surprise. They just missed grabbing a coveted semifinal bye, finishing two points back of second-place Saint Mary’s. St. F.X. faced Dalhousie in the quarter-finals and took the Tigers out in two straight.
Meanwhile, the Huskies are still considered national contenders. But unlike last season, they don’t have the 1-2 scoring punch of former MVP Marc Rancourt and sniper Cody Thornton.
But SMU captain Justin Munden said the aggressive style of play that made the Huskies so successful last season will be on full display again this time around.
"We always tend to raise our level of play during the playoffs; we’ve done that every year," Munden said.
"We won’t change too much from last year. We’re not a fancy team; we’re a hard-nosed, hard fore-checking team. We’re an aggressive, dump-and-chase team that gives up little space as possible. We haven’t changed anything."
Despite their No. 2 ranking and having that quarter-final bye, the Huskies will open the series on the road.
Friday’s game 1 will be played at the Keating Millennium Centre in Antigonish. Canada Games boxing at the Halifax Forum forced the Huskies from their home rink.
SMU — which hasn’t played a meaningful game since its regular-season finale on Feb. 12 — will host both games 2 and 3, Sunday and Tuesday, at the Forum.
"Our routine is a little bit screwed up because of the Canada Games," Munden said. "We open on the road, we’ve been practising at the Civic (Arena) but there’s nothing you can do about it. We’re just excited to play no matter where it’s at."
"Having the two weeks off was nothing but beneficial," Munden added. "We’ve had a good couple of weeks to get everyone healthy and have everyone prepared and focused on the task in hand."
It certainly won’t be an easy task, if the regular season is any indication.
St. F.X. won all four meetings against SMU, including a home-and-home series during the final week of January.
Including their two game sweep of Dalhousie, the X-Men have won eight of their last nine games and are 11-4 since the Christmas break.
"They are definitely a good team and had a great second half," Munden said. "It’s going take all of us putting in a great effort to compete against them, for sure."
Hulit, who scored three goals and added two assists in the quarter-final against Dal, is hopeful the X-Men’s regular-season success against SMU can transfer to the semifinals.
"Obviously, it’s good getting wins in their rink especially when they have home ice advantage in the playoffs," said Hulit, who’s in his fifth and final season at X. "It gives us a feeling that we can win in their rink and it’s more confidence for us collectively.
"Hopefully we can string something together here so I can finish my university career on a high note."