FRASER, Mich. – As the snow starts to melt and the temperatures begin to warm up in Michigan, that means one thing.
USPHL playoffs.
Both the Metro Jets and MJDP teams qualified for the postseason this year and after first-round byes last weekend after finishing first in their respective divisions during the regular season, each team starts its run to a national championship Thursday at Fraser Hockeyland.
The Jets play the Columbus Mavericks while the MJDP will take on the Detroit Fighting Irish in best-of-three series. The MJDP plays Game 1 at 4:30 p.m. and the Jets follow after at 7:30 p.m.
“This is best time of the year and why our program prepares for opportunities like this,” said Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville. “Everyone will need to contribute and commit to playing the right way moving forward. Our guys have done a good job getting into the right mindset leading up to playoffs, and we are all excited for this weekend. First place does not exist in playoffs, and our guys know that. We begin the next challenge, and our guys will be ready from the drop of the puck.”
“We’re excited for both groups to get going,” added Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell. “It was nice to have a break to heal and rest any minor ailments, but now it’s time to get focused and prepared this week for Columbus and DFI. It doesn’t matter that we had winning records against them during the regular season. Both opponents are coming off of series victories so they will be confident heading into our series.
“We think we’ve done a good job preparing our guys for that mindset and we are excited to get things going Thursday for Game 1 in each series.”
Both teams’ captains have their respective squads ready to go.
“I expect Detroit to be physical and hardworking,” said Jets forward Brayden Tayles, wearing the ‘C’ for the MJDP. “It’s playoff hockey now and every team we face is going to be on their ‘A’ game doing everything they can to win.
“In order to win this series, we have to execute and play our game. We need that playoff mindset, of course, and we need to play full 60-minute games. We have worked all season for this, and now it’s time to rely on our habits that we have built in practice. Most importantly, we have to outwork and simply want it more than our opponents.”
Jets defenseman Matt Cruz, like Tayles, is a three-year veteran of the program and wants to play deep into March.
“We are expecting Columbus to come out hard this weekend like every team would in playoff hockey,” Cruz said. “If we dial in and play the hockey we’ve been playing the whole season, nobody will be able to step in our way.
“To win the series we just need to come out hard and continue to press on them all game. We’ve been playing our best hockey coming into this point of the season, and we are ready to go through anybody that tries to stop us.”
During the regular season, the Jets went 6-0-0 against Columbus and the MJDP finished 3-0-0 versus Detroit.
Columbus defeated the Lake Erie Bighorns two games to one in the opening round last weekend while the Fighting Irish swept the Decatur Blaze in two straight games.
The winners of the two series this weekend will then travel to Hampton Roads, Va., for USPHL Nationals, which run March 18-22.
All USPHL games will be streamed on HockeyTV.com.
Reference: [ https://www.metrojetshockey.com/news_article/show/1151388 ]
