The No. 1-seeded Fairbanks Ice Dogs and also the No. 2-seeded Wichita Falls Wildcats, of Wichita Falls, Texas, face off at 10 a. m. ADT today in the Braemer Arena in Edina, Minnesota.
“This is that the matchup lots of people have wanted to discover for the entire year, ” Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart said by cellphone Saturday night. “Here It‘s... one game, winner take all. It ought to be pretty exciting. ”
A viewing party for it game is scheduled for 10 this morning at Tubby’s BBQ inside the Regency Hotel, 95 10th Ave. The overall game also could be seen for any fee at fasthockey. com.
Fairbanks hopes to capture its third Robertson Cup after hoisting the trophy in 2011 and 2014, when it defeated the Austin (Minnesota ) Bruins by 50 percent games of the best-of-three series inside the Big Dipper Ice Arena, the Ice Dogs’ home rink.
The Ice Dogs’ journey to play for that year’s Robertson Cup started inside the regular season, which they posted the NAHL’s best record of 49-8-3 for 101 points, a league record for points inside the regular-season standings.
The journey continued using the Ice Dogs winning three of four games inside a best-of-five Midwest Division semifinal series against the Coulee Region (Wisconsin ) Chill. The Ice Dogs advanced towards the Robertson Cup semifinal round in Edina after winning three out of 5 games inside a Midwest final series against the Minnesota Wilderness, last year’s Robertson Cup champion.
The Ice Dogs swept their best-of-three Robertson Cup semifinal series against the East Division regular-season and postseason winner Aston Rebels, defeating the Pennsylvania squad 2-1 Thursday and 3-0 Friday inside the Braemer Arena.
The Ice Dogs didn’t practice inside the Braemer Arena on Saturday, and that they instead pedaled stationery bicycles and weights.
“Guys got their legs ready and stretched out, ” Stewart said.
Following the workouts, the team watched video of Wichita Falls, the South Division regular-season and playoff titlist, which finished the regular season at 44-11-5 for 93 points. The video session ended having a talk from Stewart and assistant coach Scott Deur.
“It would be a light day. It was eventually more relaxing slightly, re-engaging once we need to the workout and preparing slightly (Saturday ) to prepare for (today ), ” Stewart said.
“We wanted to re-establish who We‘re like a club as well as what we’ve done all seasons, ” Stewart added. “It’s not visiting change, so we need to not worry about ourselves but concentrate on ourselves and concentrate on the journey that we’ve been on. We‘re where we wanted to become in the beginning from the year, and in fact now it’s just going out and keeping some fun and dealing hard for 60 minutes. ”
Stewart sees puck control like a key today inside the Braemer Arena.
“I think it’s likely going to be a make a difference of which team has the capacity to possess the puck slightly more, ” he said. “Both teams, obviously, such as the puck on the sticks, and both in our games mirror one another. So it’s likely going to be a make a difference of who are able to gain that extra possession some serious amounts of have the ability to let their offensive creativity take over. ”
The Ice Dogs aspire to maintain the defensive intensity that helped shut out Aston on Friday. Goaltender Gavin Nieto recorded 25 saves for their second postseason shutout and was supported by 2 goals from right wing Reggie Lutz and also a single from linemate and left wing Tyler Tomberlin.
Lutz, that is from Elk River, Minnesota, about 38 miles from Edina, also accounted for both goals Thursday against Aston.
“The guys understood how hard it was eventually in order to defend and never a let a team score a goal, ” said Stewart, “and we’re visiting need that kinds of effort, plus more (today ).
“It’s type of a measuring stick for those, where we could be defensively, ” Stewart said. “I’m sure that Wichita Falls has possessed the puck maybe slightly greater than Aston. We just have to ensure that we’re tight to our checks, having good sticks and protecting the center of the ice. ”
Stewart scouted Wichita Falls during its Robertson Cup semifinal sweep of Bismarck, winning 3-2 Thursday and 5-2 Friday against the Central Division regular-season and playoff champ.
The Wildcats had advanced to Edina with three-game sweeps against the Odessa (Texas ) Jackalopes inside the South Division semifinal round and also the Topeka (Kansas ) RoadRunners inside the South final series.
“They’re good, they’re deep, ” Stewart said from the Wildcats. “They’ve got great goaltending and that they play with lots of, type of loose confidence and swagger. They’re pretty much like us. ”
Stewart also spoke highly of his team.
“Tremendous character, ” the fifth-year Ice Dogs head coach said. “There’s not any kind of cliques upon the team. They enjoy each other’s company, they really the same as for one another.
They’ve been an enjoyable group to become a section of, ” he added.
Dog Bytes
Today’s championship contest marks the sixth meeting in three seasons involving the teams.
Wichita Falls edged Fairbanks 6-5 in overtime on Sept. 17, 2014, inside the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota.
The Ice Dogs swept a regular-season series in 2013-14. Fairbanks won by 3-1 scores on Nov. 22 and 23, 2013 inside the Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls, and prevailed 4-2 and 5-4, respectively, on Jan. 24 and 25, 2014 inside the Big Dipper.
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