It was nice to see the Herald do a write-up for the upcoming play-off series but, as always, they undersold the quality of the league. The writers need to take off their Q goggles.
The SMU-Moncton series should be interesting as Moncton have been playing well of late, but if SMU's effort matches their skill level and Peters plays his game they should have no trouble winning.
The X-UPEI series is much more intriguing. StFX will be under huge pressure to advance, while UPEI will play with their usual swagger, especially at home, which makes them the bogey team of the AUS.
The goaltending is about even with Owsley and Parks (presuming he gets the nod), but Owsley has played a lot lately, so one might wonder if he is mentally fresh.
X have killer special teams; their pp is at 19.7% and pk at 86.4%. UPEI's pp is 17.7%, but their pk is only 77.5%.
If UPEI hope to win they will have to stay out of the box and play five on five as much as possible. This is easier said than done as X had the most pp opportunities in the league (157). It should be noted that X scored 31 of their 84 goals on their power play, which could be a worry for them if the refs 'put the whistle away'.
Any way you slice it, X must win game one in Antigonish or they will be in danger (the grave kind) of not playing for a month before they host nationals.
