The Royals will have their hands full in Prince George agianst the Cariboo Cougars as the sa国际传媒 Major Midget Hockey League teams begin their best-of-three quarter-final playoff series Friday at 2:15 p.m.
Thirty-four points separated the clubs in the standings with the Cougars鈥� 31-8-1 log for 63 points behind just the Vancouver Northwest Giants in regular-season standings. The Royals were 11-22-7 on the campaign.
The dilemma is, the locals were handily beaten 29-3 in four head-to-head meetings, the latest being 8-1 and 7-2 defeats in P.G. on Feb. 23-24. Those came after back-to-back 7-0 shutouts at home in late November.
鈥淐ariboo is a very good team, certainly they have a strong group of kids up there,鈥� said Grimwood, who isn鈥檛 about to give up. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e shown, at times, that we can play with some of the best teams in the league.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just going to be a matter of doing it right off the bat in Game 1. We鈥檙e going in with confidence. We enjoy being the underdog.
鈥淎ny time you start on the road you want to establish some momentum early an maybe put them on their heels a bit. I really believe this group can do it,鈥� Grimwood added of his team.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e worked hard and come a long way. We struggled a little bit down the stretch, but when you get to the playoffs it鈥檚 a new season. Every year there is a surprise and we鈥檙e going to say, 鈥榃hy not us?鈥� 鈥�
Special teams will be huge and Grimwood will look to the work ethic of first-year forward Jack Rachwalski and commitment of Jordan Martin, just to mention a couple of players, to attempt to cast some doubt in the Cougars.
Jesse Janks will start in goal for the Royals and Grimwood has Markus Daly, a Victoria Royals鈥� WHL draft pick, waiting in the wings as well.
Game 2 is set for Saturday at 1 p.m., and if a third game is necessary, it is slated for Sunday at 9 a.m.
The Royals left Wednesday evening, heading for 100 Mile House where they were scheduled to practice and lodge before carrying on to P.G. today.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do everything we can to get the guys prepared as best we can,鈥� said Grimwood.
