Playoff Preview II, The Semi's

Lake City's 2004 Playoff edition of the Quarter Finals will end on Tuesday, with the winner of Scotiabank versus T.J. Devils advancing to face the Secunda Mariners in the Semi Finals. The other Semi Final match-up is all set to start as the Dartmouth Alpines take on the Sandtrap Chiefs in the Best of Three Series. The Dartmouth Alpines will continue their quest for a three-peat of the Lake City Cup, something that has only been done one other time by the 1994 to 96 Rangers. The Sandtrap Chiefs know, as the saying goes, ''To become Champions you must beat the Champions". The Chiefs and Alpines played against each other three times in the regular season. Sandtrap won two out of the three and out scored Dartmouth 23 to 10. Both of these teams match up closely if you look at regular season statistics; Sandtrap finished 2nd overall in points with 37, Dartmouth finished in 3rd place with 33 points; the Chiefs scored 147 goals, the Alpines 141; both teams had 103 goals against; Alpines finished 2nd overall for powerplay percentage with a 35.5%, while the Chiefs had a 34.8%, for 3rd overall; penalty killing the same thing with Dartmouth having an 80.0% (3rd), Sandtrap 78.8% (4th). Keys: Dartmouth Alpines finished off their long time rival the Big Leagues' Rangers in three games, after being down one game to none. One thing the Alpines do is never give up and this must continue to get to the Finals. Glen MacDonald, Jay Washington and some timely goal scoring by Peter Gallant helped lead the Alpines in the Quarter Finals. The Alpines have depth in every position with three solid foward lines, six strong defencemen, and top goaltending with Graham McLeod and David Howell. Look for Dartmouth to continue to throw three lines at  the Chiefs and try to have puck control. The Sandtrap Chiefs had an easy time eliminating the Fairview Aces in two straight games, outscoring them 14 to 2. However game two was back on March 25th, 19 days ago. The Chiefs must get over their long layoff fairly quickly or it could be a short series for them. Gord Dickie was on fire in the Quarter Final, scoring back to back hattricks and adding 3 helpers. Sandtrap must continue to play team defence as they did against the Aces. Chiefs will continue to use their team speed and be aggressive on the puck. They must force the Alpines to pass quickly. Goaltender Jason White will be tested more against the Alpines and will need his 'A' game with him. All in all it is shaping up to be a good series. Playoff preview of the other Semi Final will be coming soon.