BERWICK – The Major A Bantam Valley Wildcats have lost their first playoff game against the Truro Bearcats after a 6-1 defeat March 4.
The Berwick team started the game off with a strong first period – scoring with seven minutes left in the period – but couldn’t hold onto the momentum.
The Wildcats had finished the regular season in second-last place – 11 out of the 12 league teams – while the Truro team finished second, and coach Jeffrey Krichew said the competition was expected.
“We knew Truro was a really good team. They have a couple of guys that can really burn you if you give them any time or space, and we kind of saw that happen,” he said.
“I thought we had a really good first period. We had scoring chances on a few of those early power plays, but we started falling off, and in playoffs that can’t happen.”
The Wildcats will face Truro again March 10 in Truro for the second game of the series. If they can score a win, they’ll play the final in Berwick.
Despite the day’s significant loss, Krichew is confident his boys still stand a chance.
“We still have a shot, absolutely. Last time we were in Truro it came down to us pulling our goalie. As long as we play the way we can play, we’ll be right there with them,” he said.
“We’ve got a good group who rebounds really well.”
Until then, the team will hit the ice hard during practice to hammer down some last-minute skill strengthening before the next match.
Ensuring players take advantage of scoring opportunities on power plays, finding and using shooting lanes during plays and bringing the level of competition up to match Truro’s will be the team’s goals as they look to their next match, according to Krichew.
“We’ll have a real good week of practices and come back ready for Saturday,” he said.
