Ironheads performance on road vital for playoff push
Written by Brendan McCarthy
Hitting the road, playing loose, and without any pressure playing on home floor could be the perfect recipe for success for the I-Heads. Their six game home stand ended with a 14-10 loss to the Oakville Buzz. The I-Heads finished with a 1-5-0 record in that stretch and find themselves seeded third in the Mid East division (6-8-1).
The I-Heads first stop is in Ottawa in a back to back tilt Saturday and Sunday against two teams well under .500.
“We’re all aware of the situation,” said Head Coach Ron Reed. “We’re all aware that we have five games left and we need to win probably at least three of those to make the playoffs and that’s our goal. Again, consistency [is] the key and we have to come out for sixty minutes beginning this weekend in Ottawa.”
The Nepean Knights (2-14-0) are up first. On paper, the I-Heads are much stronger especially when goaltender Chris Steele brings his A game. The I-Heads then clash with the Gloucester Griffins (5-10-0) Sunday afternoon who sit just ahead of the Knights in the Far East division. The two teams have combined for just three wins at home.
Looking ahead to the tail end of the road trip it, the I-Heads square off against the top two seeds in their division. The Green Gaels who are 6-1-0 at home and are third in the league in goals against (101) and the Orillia Kings (4-4-0) at home. The I-Heads and Kings season series is tied but the I-Heads have yet to solve the Gaels.
Riley Kumano who potted a pair in the loss to the Buzz acknowledged one particular area on the floor the club needs to correct heading into the weekend. “Transition. We definitely need to work on our reverse transition. We can’t give up as many breakaways. Our defense has been good, our goalie’s been good, offense has been there, it’s definitely just the transition.”
So, ideally back to back wins for the Ironheads this weekend is imperative to get an idea of a playoff picture. The latter half of their road trip is against formidable clubs so the Ottawa weekend, as Coach Ron Reed stated, is really a "business weekend" and the boys are fully cognizant of that.
Saturday's game against the Knights kicks off at 7:00pm.
Sunday's game against the Griffins goes down at 2:00PM
