Monday, February 21, 2011 /
By Evan Daum /
When the puck dropped on the 2010/11 Canada West women’s hockey season, University of Alberta Pandas head coach Howie Draper might not have expected a first place finish at the end of the regular season like in years past, but that’s exactly what the 14-year head coach got.
“I certainly didn’t,” Draper said with respect to anticipating a first place finish at the start of the season. “It’s a nice surprise, but I think what we’ve learned over the course of the second half is that we do have the ability to get through Canada West, and again it has to be a full team effort. We can’t rely like we have in the past on one, or two lines to help us find success – it has to be a commitment from everybody.”
With a 17-4-3 record over the course of the regular season, the Pandas clinched first place in their second to last game of the season to assure themselves home ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
Despite a slightly lower winning percentage in the friendly confines of Clare Drake Arena this season compared to on the road, locking in home ice for the postseason was key for Alberta.
With a proven track record in Edmonton over the playoffs, having that added comfort will be important for a less experienced Pandas team compared to previous editions of the squad.
“This year I can’t say that we’ve had a tremendous amount of success in other team’s buildings, and we’ve always had the good fortune – with the exception of one year – to host,” Draper pointed out.
“I know the players that have been around certainly are comfortable hosting playoffs here and we just feel much more secure knowing we’ll be here playing in our own building in front of our own fans.”
The defending national champions will open the playoffs against a familiar foe the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Pandas finished up the regular season against the Huskies, and will be looking to the likes of veterans Leah Copeland and Melody Howard to lead the team through the playoffs, or at least set the table for others to step up.
“We’ll need offence – we need to put pucks away. That’s one of the things we lacked this weekend was we had chances to score and I don’t think we capitalized,” Draper said after splitting with the Huskies February 11-12. “We have to be more determined, so that would be Copeland and Howard’s lines – the two primary scoring lines have to do a better job.”
“History would show that usually it’s the third and fourth lines that come up for us and get goals, because the other teams are doing such a good job shutting down the top two.” |
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