Wildcats Open Playoffs in Saskatoon

The Saskatcheawn female Midget AAA playoffs start Wednesday night with the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats visiting Saskatoon.

It's a best of five series between two teams that were tied in 4th place in the standings this season. They also split their season series with each game getting decided by a single goal.

Wildcats Coach Terry Pavely suggested they might be able to use Saskatoon's aggressiveness to counter them.

"With the way they play so aggressive you hope that if we make some good decisions with the puck we might get the opportunity to go the other way," he said. "We might get some 2 on 1s, 3 on 2s and take advantage of those."

"You're not going to score on all of those, but if you get real good scoring chances, you get pucks on net... it might push them back a bit where they can't play as aggressive because they are giving up quality scoring chances."

The have to keep an eye on Saskatoon sniper Sophia Shirley who has by far the most goals among individuals on either team with 19 this season.

"We feel the way we kind of juggled our lines we got a little bit more balance,"  Pavely said. "Because of the balance on our lines we didn't have to fear who we had on the ice... those lines going into the match-up against Saskatoon especially on the road we're pretty comfortable whoever is on the ice will be able to do a job against that line."

"She's a very skilled player. She likes to toe-drag and bring it back for a quick shot. Just keep her to the outside... and we play her tough... make life a little bit difficult, especially as a rookie in the league there might be a little bit of frustration setting in."

Swift Current has struggled on the road during league play this season. They start the playoffs in Saskatoon, but Pavely isn't concerning himself with that.

"We're 0-0 right now," he said. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past. It's a new season... I really don't think it's going to be a big deal. We had more success on the road as the year progressed and we tried to do more things as coaches where we could have success trying to maybe balance our lines."

The Wildcats have two goaltenders with almost identical numbers this season that they have run on a rotation. Pavely said they will make a decision about who is starting game one and go from there depending on how they do.

Game two is Saturday in Swift Current.

Meanwhile, the Swift Current Bert Legault Royal Lepage female Midget Titans opened their league playoffs with a 2-0 loss to the Prairie Storm.

They will play game two of their two game total goals series on March 4th.

They host the Regina Capitals on Friday night in game one of their provincial series.