January 20, 2012
Posted in Alberta Edition, Midget
By Ryan Laverty / Gray is not a colour the Fort Saskatchewan Boston Pizza Rangers much care for.
No, for the Rangers, things must be purely black or purely white. Scalding hot or hypothermia cold. There is no in between.
Hence, with only eight games remaining on their regular season schedule, Fort Saskatchewan head coach Levi Lypka is expecting his team to make a definitive statement one way or the other.
“There is no one guy that needs to step it up on our team to get us into the playoffs,” Lypka explained. “We are a team that if a few guys are playing bad, everyone plays bad, but if we have a line go out and have a good shift and get things going? Then everybody gets going.”
Typically a coach might look for a new line to step up when one falters, but that has not been the case for the Rangers this year, which is why they are locked in a three-way race for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Alberta Midget Hockey League Dodge Division. At press time the Rangers were tied with the Canadian Athletic Club with 21 points and one point clear of the K of C Pats with eight games to go. CAC held a game in-hand over both the Rangers and Pats.
“We have a team that if we can get into the playoffs we think we can do some damage,” said Lypka. “Even though we’ve had our struggles this year, this has been one of the most enjoyable teams I’ve ever been around. They all are such good people and all care so much about the team and their teammates.
“We’ve had our troubles putting pucks in the net this year, but when you have a team like this one, that can take you a long way in the playoffs.”
At this point it looks clear that both the Leduc Oil Kings and St. Albert Raiders will earn first-round playoff byes, with the Lloydminster Bobcats, Sherwood Park J. Ennis Kings and SSAC Boston Pizza Athletics jockeying for third through fifth.
Down south in the Chrysler Division, the UFA Bisons, fresh off their silver medal performance at the Mac’s Touranment in Calgary over the Christmas break, are looking to ride their momentum up the standings and into home-ice advantage for the opening round. The Bisons were fifth in the division with 30 points, five back of the Calgary Buffaloes and six back of the third-place Calgary Northstars.
With eight games left on their 35-game schedule the chances are slim, but if goaltender Wilson Sproule can continue the play that earned him a First-Team All-Star nod at the Mac’s, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities.
The AMHL playoffs will feature the top six teams from each division. The opening round is a best-of-three format with all other series going to a best-of-five.
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