After a few days of rest, the Laval Rocket players were back in training on Monday. They now know their opponents in the Eastern Conference Finals: the Springfield Thunderbirds.
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The Thunderbirds, who are led by Drew Bannister, were one of the American League powerhouses during the regular season.
In the playoffs, they have still not suffered defeat in six games. In the final round, they swept the Charlotte Checkers, another excellent team, in three games.
This season, the Rocket split the honors in its two meetings against them. What can we expect from these two teams in a 4 of 7 series?
“We are two fairly similar teams,” said head coach Jean-François Houle. They have talented players who have experience. Which is different from Rochester who had talented players, but with less experience.
“James Neal, Sam Anas and Tommy Cross are experienced players. It brings us together with Jean-Sébastien Dea, Alex Belzile and Xavier Ouellet.
“It’s going to be a good series. These are two good teams competing against each other.”
A particular format
The Rocket will play its first best-of-seven series since the start of its playoff run. He will play his first two matches abroad before returning home for three matches.
If a sixth or seventh game is needed, it will all be on the Springfield side.
“I think it’s good for the team starting out on the road,” Houle said. If you go over there and pick one up, you have three home games. It’s a small advantage. We are going there to play well and maybe win two if possible.
Although the crowd in Springfield is less intimidating than in Laval, Alex Belzile does not expect an easy task in the first two meetings of this Eastern final.
“It’s never easy to play on the road,” said the Quebec forward. Everyone is more comfortable playing at home. It doesn’t matter if the crowd is loud or not, we have the maturity to face this type of situation.
“Some teams may seem intimidated to play in front of large crowds. We can think of the first against Rochester at Place Bell. They were a little shocked at how loud and impressive it was.
Lindgren or Hofer?
During this round, we could see a duel between Cayden Primeau and Charlie Lindgren. Lindgren, who was part of the Canadiens organization for six seasons, has just returned to Springfield after the elimination of the St. Louis Blues.
However, the Thunderbirds also have another excellent goaltender in Joel Hofer. He was in goal in four of his team’s six playoff games.
“I think it will be Lindgren and I expect him to be very excited if he is in the net, mentioned Jean-François Houle. Hofer is doing very well too. They have a whole duo of goalkeepers like us.
“They have good defenders like us. They’re playing well defensively and I’m expecting some pretty close games.”
