Playoff Preview III, The Final

The 2004 Lake City Cup Final is about to begin with the two time defending champions Dartmouth Alpines to face the Regular Season Champions Secunda Mariners in the Best of Five Final.

During the regular season both teams won two of their four meetings with the Alpines outscoring the Mariners 24 to 21. Secunda won their first meeting 7 to 5 on October 16th, 2003 lead by Steve Widmeyer's hattrick. December 4th, 2003 the Alpines were victorious with an 8 to 5 score, led by Peter Gallant's 3 goals and 2 assists. Dartmouth crushed the Mariners 9 to 4 on January 22nd, 2004, Jay Washington had 4 goals in the game. The season series finished on February 24th, 2004 with a 5 to 2 victory by Secunda. Secunda went 3 for 8 on the powerplay against Dartmouth during the regular season while the Alpines were 1 for 5 on the advantage. The Mariners had 14 penalty minutes to the Alpines 20 penalty minutes in their four meetings this season.

Dartmouth Alpines - Keys: Of all the teams in the League the Alpines arguably have the most depth. They throw out four lines at you consistently and never give up. Their depth was key in victories over the Big Leagues' Rangers and the Sandtrap Chiefs in the first two rounds of the Playoffs. Seven of their players had 10 or more goals during the regular season and two scored over 20 goals, Jay Washington with 28 and Glen MacDonald with 22. In the playoffs eight players have scored two or more goals, led by Todd Parker's 5. Glen MacDonald is their top point getter with 7, 4 goals and 3 assists in 6 games. The Alpines must continue to roll the lines and figure away to limit the scoring chances of the high scoring Mariners. Goaltenders Graham McLeod and David Howell will be asked to stop the first shot with their defencemen picking up the rebound. The Alpines tend to attack and defend as a unit, making short passes and backing checking. This veteran team knows each other well and adapts very well to on ice situations.

Secunda Mariners - Keys: The Secunda Mariners were the most explosive team during the Regular Season, scoring 165 goals, led by Keifer House with 41. This trend has continued in the Playoffs outscoring their opponents 30 to 11 in the first two rounds. Secunda has 4 wins and 0 losses thus far and is being led by potential Playoff MVP Andy Clark who's 8 goals and 8 assists for 16 points in just 4 games leads this year's playoff scoring. The Mariners will need their top guns of Keifer House, Steve Widmeyer and Chris Kelly to continue to supply most of the offence. Continued success of Andy Clark and the speed of Scott Pellerine will take some of the pressure off. The Mariners have a very big defensive core in Jeff Thompson, Jeff Crowell, Ian Marshall and Andrew Hawrylak, Kevin Lynch and defend around goaltender Corey Irving quite well. Secunda must capitalize on their chances as they will face their toughest opponent yet.

The fun begins on Tuesday in what should be an exciting Final.