They’re ready.
Snow be darned, the Poland/Gray-New Gloucester Patriotic Knights held practice Monday one final time in preparation for the program’s first ever home playoff game.
“It’s our first time; the kids are pumped,” Poland/Gray-New Gloucester coach Aaron Rand said. “They’re ready to go.”
With more than a week between games, Rand made good use of the weekend, scheduling a controlled scrimmage with Class B playoff-bound Cape Elizabeth.
“That was good stuff,” Rand said. “We got to work on a lot of things in real-game situations.”
The No. 3 seed in the Eastern Class A draw, the Patriotic Knights will host No. 6 Bangor at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinal round, an opponent Poland/Gray-NG has yet to face this season.
“We’re not worried too much about it,” Rand said. “We know they’re a traditi0nally tough program, we know what they traditionally run for systems and we’ve seen their stats. They play a respectable schedule. But we’re going to play our game. We have to remember, and we have to make them remember, they’re coming to us. We earned the three-seed.”
Their quarterfinal is one of eight across the state in Classes A and B on Tuesday. The winner of Poland/Gray-NG and Bangor will face the winner of No. 2 St. Dom’s and No. 7 Brunswick.
The Saints finished the season on a 4-1-2 run, including ties with Waterville and Biddeford. The loss, in the regular season finale against Thornton, came in a game from which there was nothing to gain for either team.
“Overall, it was a pretty good finish,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said. “That last game, we’d come off a big, emotional game against Biddeford, which finished unbeaten, and we tied them. We can go into (the playoffs) knowing we can play with anybody.”
Top seed Lewiston, meanwhile, has the luxury of practicing all week.
The Blue Devils used last Thursday’s KVAC championship game as a way to work first-line forward Ben Wigant back into the lineup after a lengthy absence due to injury. Wigant scored three times, and the Devils won, 5-1.
For the first part of the week, without knowing which other team it will face, Lewiston planned to keep its legs moving, and work on special teams.
“We just want to keep the tempo up, keep the legs moving,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We can work on special teams, because no matter who you’re playing, that’s an important part of the game.”
Lewiston will face the winner of No. 4 Waterville and No. 5 Maranacook/Hall-Dale/Winthrop in Saturday’s regional semifinal round.
Western A quarterfinals pitting Biddeford against South Portland, Thornton against Scarborough, Marshwood/Traip against Cheverus and Falmouth against Noble are all scheduled for Tuesday, as well, as is the lone Class B quarter, a 4-5 matchup between Lawrence and Presque Isle at Sukee Arena in Winslow.
The Eastern and Western A semifinals will take place over two sessions at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday. The Eastern and Western Class B semifinals will also take place Saturday, with the Western teams invading Portland Ice Arena, and the Eastern teams traveling to Sukee in Winslow.
Regional finals and state finals take place next week.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
