GX94 Playoff Preview: (5) Melville Millionaires @ (4) Estevan Bruins

Melville (24-30-1-3) 52 pts vs Estevan (29-23-4-2)

Regular Season

Melville's Leaders
Lucas Froese 47 GP (22g-21a-43p)
Roger Tagoona 57 GP (13g-27a-40p)
Michael Desjarlais 58 GP (19g-15a-34p)
Mark Owen 43 GP (10g-23a-33p)
Justin Hollinger 52 GP (9g-23a-32p)

D- Tyson Newell 46 GP (12g-15a-27p)
*Newell did spent some time at forward
Rookie- Tagoona (40 pts)

Estevan's Leaders
Jonathan Ceci 54 GP (23g-46a-69p)
(Ceci: 8g-16a-24p in 18 games w/ EST)
Troy Hunter: 56 GP (21g-36a-57p)
Ryan Andersen: 56 GP (27g-28a-56p)
Dylan Smith: 52 GP (23g-32a-55p)
Mark Cross: 58 GP (18g-27a-45p)

D- Ty Arris: 49 GP (10g-23a-33p)
Rookie- Cole Olson 56 GP (13g-13a-36p)

Season Series (7 games)
With a meeting at the Showcase, the Mils and Bruins met 7 times this regular season, and the Bruins won 6 of them.

Sep/16 @ MVL: 6-4 EST
Sep/18 @ EST: 7-3 EST
Sep/22 @ EST: 5-3 EST
Oct/22 @ MVL: 5-4 MVL
Dec/3 @ Showcase: 4-3 (SO) EST
Jan/25 @ MVL: 3-1 EST
Feb/22 @ EST: 6-5 (SO) EST

Estevan never scored less than 3 goals in a game, and out-scored the Millionaires 33-24. The Bruins averaged 4.71 goals for/game vs Melville.

Estevan: 6-1
Melville: 1-4-2

In Estevan: EST 3-0 / MVL 0-2-1
In Melville: EST 2-1 / MVL 1-2
Showcase: EST 1-0 / MVL 0-0-1

Head-to-Head Stats
Melville: Desjarlais/Tagoona 6 pts each
Estevan: Ryan Anderson 11 pts (in 6 games)

Between the Pipes
20-year-old Yorkton product Joel Danyluk will start for Estevan. The former Terrier led La Ronge to a Credit Union Cup Championship last season. At the other end, 17-year-old Zach Rakochy gets his first SJHL Playoff start tonight.

Melville
#34 Zach Rakochy: 17-18-1, 3.56 GAA, .903%, 2 SO
#35 Alex Sirard: 5-7-3, 4.40 GAA, .879%

Estevan
#1 Joel Danyluk: 18-16-1, 3.73 GAA, .897%, 1 SO
#30 Shea Cooper: 11-11-1, 3.97 GAA, .891%

Danyluk vs MVL: Played every game, went 6-1.
Rakochy vs EST: 1-2, 5.28 GAA, .854%

Special Teams
PP: MVL 18.7% (10th) / EST 19.8% (7th)
PK: MVL 76.6% (10th) / EST 77.5% (9th)

Home Ice is Key
Estevan went 16-8-3-1 at home this season, and the Mils were winless in three appearances at the Civic Auditorium. If they can't win a game there in this series, their season will be done next week. On the road overall, the Millionaires went 9-18-0-2. At the Vault, the Mils were 15-12-1-1, while Estevan was just under .500 away from home, at 13-15-1-1.

Physicality Picks Up
It's cliche, but you have to lay the body even more than usual at this time of year. Wear down your opponent, and you'll have a better shot at success, if they're less willing to go into corners first. Estevan's rink is the smallest in the SJ, and physical play is a given there. The Bruins have two extremes, lost of big boys (Ariss, Rock, Stubel, Hunter, Andersen)... while some of their top forwards are small (Ceci, Findlay, Waskewitch).

Bruins' Banged-Up Blueline?
We do know local product Tyler Spencer has left the team for an oil job and won't be back. On Tuesday, it sounded like Ty Ariss would be back for the Survivor Series, but Lucas Stubel's status was in question both for Game 1, and the series. Again, it comes down to finishing checks. Joel Kot will log a tonne of minutes and the Mils will have to be physical with him, and the rest of a banged up D.

Stat of the Day
The Mils were 24-30-1-3 in 2010/11... hardly a favourite to make it through a tough Sherwood Conference. BUT WAIT... the 2009/10 Yorkton Terriers... were 24-30-3-1. VERY different situations though. The Terriers added Troy Smukowich, Adam Moar, Ryan Griffiths, Kyle Miller, Drew McDermott and Blaine Tendler during last season. Melville traded Brayden Metz, Cody Hanson and Kyle Jahraus.

Series Schedule
Game 1: Fri/Feb/25 @ EST
Game 2: Sat/Feb/26 @ MVL
Game 3: Mon/Feb/28 @ EST
Game 4: Tue/Mar/1 @ MVL *if nec
Game 5: Thu/Mar/3 @ EST *if nec
All games on GX94. 7:15 Pre-Game Shows, 7:30 starts.