The battle for the President Cup trophy begins Thursday for the Saint John Sea Dogs.
Saint John will host the Rimouski Oceanic for game one of their best-of-five series.
Trevor Georgie, president of the Sea Dogs, said they are prepared for a tough first-round matchup.
“I know their coach and their GM very well. He’s a friend, but on the ice, he’s certainly an enemy,” Georgie said in an interview.
“He does a great job with his team. His team plays hard, his team plays physical, his team takes away time and space.”
The Sea Dogs faced off against Rimouski just twice this season, with each team picking up a win.
But despite the lack of familiarity, Georgie said his team will be ready for its first test of this year’s playoffs.
“With the work that our coaches are putting into it, we’ll be well prepared,” he said. “The work that our data scientist group is putting into it too to gather information and identify certain trends and certain key elements to their game.”
Georgie said the Sea Dogs have been playing well as of late, pointing to their 15-game win streak to wrap up the regular season. In fact, they have only lost six games since coming back from their COVID-extended Christmas break in February.
“Now it’s really up to the players and the coaches to demonstrate that they can be the best team every night,” he said.
Saint John will host the first two games of the series at TD Station on Thursday and Friday. Puck drop for both games is 7 p.m.
Game three and, if needed, game four will be in Rimouski on Monday and Tuesday. If a game five is needed, it would take place in Saint John next Thursday.
The action starts this week!🏆#QPlayoffs https://t.co/VsyrafDM1R
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) May 3, 2022
