EVANSVILLE, Ind. – After failing to qualify for the playoffs last season, the Evansville IceMen are set to make their CHL post-season debut against the Missouri Mavericks.
Evansville (40-22-4) enters the playoffs as the Turner Conference’s #2 seed, with Missouri (39-21-6) qualifying as the #3 seed. Both teams finished the regular season with 84 points in the standings; Evansville earned the higher seed via tiebreaker, thanks to having claimed one more non-shootout victory.
The Best-of-7 first-round series will feature a rather unusual 1-2-1-1-1-1 scheduling format, due to arena availability issues. While the IceMen have home-ice advantage, the Mavericks will actually host Game 1 of the series. Evansville will then host Games 2 and 3, as well as Games 5 and 7, if necessary. Missouri’s other home games will be Game 4 and, if necessary, Game 6.
The full series schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Wed. Mar. 28 (7:05 PM CDT) – at Missouri
Game 2: Fri. Mar. 30 (7:15 PM CDT) – at Evansville
Game 3: Sat. Mar. 31 (7:15 PM CDT) – at Evansville
Game 4: Mon. Apr. 2 (7:05 PM CDT) – at Missouri
Game 5: Wed. Apr. 4 (7:15 PM CDT) – at Evansville (if necessary)
Game 6: Tue. Apr. 10 (7:35 PM CDT) – at Missouri (if necessary)
Game 7: Wed. Apr. 11 (7:15 PM CDT) – at Evansville (if necessary)
It is the only first-round series that begins on March 28; the other three matchups all get underway on March 30. It is also the only series with a gap between games that is longer than 3 days. The 5-day break between Games 5 and 6 is due to scheduling conflicts at Missouri’s Independence Events Center, which is hosting a 4-day youth wrestling tournament from April 5-8th.
SERIES ANALYSIS:
Evansville and Missouri finished the regular season with the same number of points (84) and had identical goal differentials (+23). The teams are quite similar in several other ways as well. To help break down the match-up and attempt to pick a favorite, here are 10 things you should know about the IceMen and Mavericks.
• Head to Head: From Evansville’s perspective, a 2-2-2 record in the season series against the Mavericks doesn’t look that bad. But from Missouri’s perspective, a 4-1-1 record against Evansville looks much better. Evansville’s only victories against the Mavericks came back in November in the teams’ first two meetings; Missouri prevailed in the last four games of the series, capped by a dominant 5-2 victory at Evansville’s Ford Center on March 21.
• Road Warriors: While both teams were strong on home ice this season (Evansville went 21-11-1 and Missouri went 19-11-3), both also proved to be plenty capable of winning on the road. The Mavericks went 20-10-3 away from home, tied for 2nd in the league in points earned on the road. The IceMen were no slouches either, posting a 19-11-3 road record and finishing 5th in the league in points on the road. In the 6-game season series, each team hosted 3 games. The Mavericks won twice in Evansville, while the IceMen claimed one victory in Missouri.
• Hot and Cold: The CHL is often no different than the NHL and NFL and any other pro sports league – if you’re hot entering the playoffs, you’re dangerous. And right now, no CHL team is hotter than Missouri. The Mavericks went 9-2-1 in March (their best month all season), scoring 3 or more goals in every game. And they won their last 4 games, the only CHL team to do so.
Conversely, the IceMen limp into the playoffs having gone just 4-8-0 in March, their only losing month all season. Evansville won 10 straight games in February (the longest winning streak by any team in the CHL this season) but lost that mojo after the streak was snapped by a disappointing 8-5 home loss to Wichita on Leap Day. (Evansville had a 5-2 lead with 13 minutes remaining, but the Thunder stormed back with 6 unanswered goals to win 8-5.)
During the 10-game winning streak, the IceMen never surrendered more than 3 goals in a single game. In the 13 games that followed, Evansville gave up 4 or more goals 8 different times.
• Strength of Schedule: Both teams played more than two dozen games against the CHL’s 5 worst teams. Evansville went 21-3-1 against the cellar-dwellers, while Missouri went 20-6-0 against the bottom of the pack. The IceMen played 5 more games against playoff qualifiers; Evansville went 15-18-3 against playoff teams, while Missouri compiled a better 15-12-4 record.
Neither team fared particularly well against the two conference champions, Wichita and Fort Wayne, but the IceMen were a bit more successful. Evansville went 3-3-0 against the Thunder and 6-6-1 against the Komets, while Missouri went 2-6-1 against the Thunder and 1-1-0 against the Komets.
• Start Fast and Finish Strong: Both teams like to score early and then protect a lead. Evansville went 27-6-3 when scoring first and 21-6-3 when leading after 20 minutes; Missouri went 26-6-4 when scoring first and 18-2-3 when leading after 1 period. Both are especially good “closers.” The IceMen went 28-3-2 when leading after 2 periods, and the Mavericks went 26-2-3 when ahead after 40 minutes of play.
• Discipline: One of the biggest differences between these teams is the frequency with which power-plays are granted to the opposition. The IceMen found themselves short-handed 312 times this season, the second-highest total in the CHL. The Mavericks were short-handed only 251 times, tied for the second-fewest in the league.
Evansville must improve its discipline against the Mavericks, who have the CHL’s best power-play (21.0%). Missouri’s power-play actually produced at an even greater rate (26.1%) against Evansville. Meanwhile, the IceMen were nearly powerless with the extra man (5.9% conversion rate) against the Mavericks.
• Star Power: This series features two of the CHL’s brightest stars, both of whom played for the Odessa Jackalopes last season. Evansville’s Todd Robinson claimed this season’s CHL Joe Burton Scoring Championship with 92 points, and also topped the league with 69 assists. Missouri’s Sebastien Thinel won the Joe Burton Scoring Championship last season, as well as back in 2008-2009. This season, Thinel finished 2nd in the league with 59 assists and 3rd with 82 points.
• Production from the Point: The IceMen have the league’s most offensively-productive trio of defensemen, while the Mavericks are the only CHL team with just one blueliner among the league’s 40 highest-scoring defensemen. Evansville’s Matt Gens led all CHL defensemen with 47 points this season, Steve Makway (42 points) was tied for 4th, and Philippe Plante (36 points) was tied for 12th. Tied with Plante was Missouri’s Dave Pszenyczny; David Simoes was next among Mavericks defensemen with just 14 points, tied for 50th in the league.
• Key Injuries: Evansville will be without top goal scorer Brian Bicek, sidelined since early March due to a fractured clavicle. Despite missing the last 8 games, Bicek led the IceMen with 33 goals and a +24 rating this season, and was 2nd on the team with 60 points. He is expected to miss at least the first two rounds of the playoffs, with a return for the championship series considered questionable at best.
The IceMen may also start the opening series without Josh Beaulieu, who suffered a hand injury in Rapid City on March 17. Beaulieu finished the season with 24 goals (2nd on the team) and 48 points (4th on the team). He is day-to-day. Missouri begins the playoffs with no reported injuries of significance.
• Between the Pipes: Missouri’s plan in net is no secret – Charlie Effinger, Charlie Effinger, and more Charlie Effinger. The fourth-year pro appeared in 51 games this season, leading all CHL goaltenders with 3028 minutes played and 1620 saves. Effinger started 28 straight games for the Mavs from January 8 to March 11, and he finished the season with 32 wins and 3 shutouts (both tied for the league lead) and a stellar .923 Save Percentage (2nd in the CHL). Perhaps most importantly, he was a perfect 3-0-0 in 3 games against Evansville, with a 1.95 Goals-Against Average and .932 SV% when facing the IceMen.
The goaltending situation for Evansville is not nearly as clear, however. Pier-Olivier Pelletier and rookie Bryan Gillis have generally alternated starts since late January, when Pelletier was activated from Injured Reserve after recovering from a back injury. (Neither netminder has started more than 2 games in a row since then.) Gillis has better numbers overall this season – a 2.51 GAA and .920 SV% compared to Pelletier’s 2.93 and .911 – but has surrendered 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 appearances.
Pelletier has better stats against Missouri – a 2.84 GAA and .922 SV% compared to Gillis’ 3.37 and .912 – but both backstops ultimately compiled 1-1-1 records against the Mavericks. Smart money is on Gillis getting the first crack at playoff action, mainly because the team seems to play better in front of him. (Gillis went 26-8-1 this season, while Pelletier’s record was just 14-14-2.) That being said, Head Coach Rich Kromm may very well employ a “quick hook” if things go south. As murky as the “time-share” has been, the IceMen goaltending situation could end up following a simple formula in the playoffs – win and you get the next start, lose and you don’t.
SERIES PREDICTION:
Mavericks in 6. Missouri is the hotter team with a hot goaltender, and that almost always equates to a series victory in hockey. The Mavericks also have had Evansville’s number since Thanksgiving, especially when Effinger is in net. The IceMen will really miss Bicek, a gifted offensive player who also is solid defensively and at killing penalties. But even without him, Evansville certainly has the talent to win this series. To do so, the IceMen must improve their discipline and rediscover the quality goaltending that helped win so many games before the Leap Day debacle. If not, the Mavs will pull off the minor “upset” and advance.
Contact the writer at michael.shockley@prohockeynews.com
