Photo: Bandits forward Steven Jean had five points in Saturday's series clinching blowout. – Robb Fenton Photo
By Robb Fenton
It went pretty much as predicted for the Lloydminster Bandits in Round 1 of their NEAJBHL playoff series.
The defending champs capped off a sweep of the Thorhild Titans, who were making their first trip to the playoffs, with an 11-1 win Saturday night at the Civic Centre.
Bandits head coach Joe Young was happy to escape the first round quickly and for the most part, healthy.
“It was nice to get it over with quick. We didn’t expect it to go more than three games. It lived up to what I thought it was going to be,” Young said. “We’re ready to go. We understand it’s going to get tougher the next round and we’re prepared for that. Everyone knows going into this series we wanted to keep it simple and not get into bad habits.”
In a series where the Bandits outscored the Titans 25-5, it would be easy for them to become over-confident and complacent, but being through a title run last season has the coaching staff breathing easy as they know the team will rise to their next challenge.
“That’s the good thing about our team, I do know what kind of intensity they do have. They know what it takes to win and a series like this isn’t going to affect our state of mind going into the next round,” Young said. “We went through it last year with Saddle Lake, so it’s kind of the same situation. We’re going to be ready for the next round. We’re eight wins away from a championship right now, so we’re going to keep plugging away at that number.”
Ten Bandits recorded points and nine of those players recorded at least two.
Lenny Young led the attack with six points, Steven Jean had five, including a hat-trick and Stuart Poulin elevated his game, scoring twice and adding an assist.
“It was nice to get out of the first series, it felt like it took forever. It was just three games, but they felt like a long three games,” Poulin said.
One of the biggest positives Poulin and the Bandits are taking from the series is the rest they will have thanks to the sweep.
“It’s always nice to wrap it up in three, now we have a nice long break to work on any mistakes and get ready for the next series.”
While it was a lopsided win to clinch the series, Poulin knows his team will have to be ready for the next round, which will be much tougher than the first was.
“I think we’ve been sending a message all year, we’ve been dominant. But we have to be ready for next series,” Poulin explained.
With Joel Budd, Cameron Stark and Devin Swyripa all out of the lineup for Saturday’s game, Young knew he would have to count on his depth to be successul and that’s exactly what happened, as Poulin led the charge.
“When you’re missing three guys like that, it’s a big part of the hockey club, so if guys want to get noticed, step up and produce a little bit and work extra hard. I thought Stuart and his line did that well and I thought the younger guys played real good as well,” Young said. “Overall I thought it went well and we go through the round without any major injuries.”
The Bandits will await their second round opponent, but it will be the winner of the Killam and Saddle Lake series, which may be settled Tuesday as Killam holds a 2-1 edge and Game 4 is scheduled for tonight in Saddle Lake.
“We don’t know how the long the other series are going to be, but we’re going to get some good skates in this week and just get back to the drawing board,” Young said. “It’s going to get a lot tougher from here.”
NEAJBHL PLAYOFFS
In the two other series, the top seeds advanced with sweeps as well.
The Vegreville Rangers capped off their series with a 5-2 win over the Wainwright Bisons and Cold Lake beat the Vermilion Tigers 4-1 to move on to Round 2.
The Rangers will now meet the Ice in the secon round, which will likely begin later this week.