ALEXANDRIA BAY, NY – Call it The Battle of the Border, The Battle of the North Country or whatever name or adjectives describe an intense rivalry. Just don’t call the Thousand Islands Privateers and Akwesasne Warriors friends because you would be dead wrong.
When the two teams begin their best-of-three FHL Commissioner’s Cup playoff series at the Anowarako:wa Arena on Cornwall Island Friday, it will be the start of the latest chapter in a passionate rivalry that has taken on the feel of a blood feud. Games two and three are scheduled for the Bonnie Castle Recreation on Saturday and Sunday.
On the heels of a rugged four game series that the Warriors won on the way to the championship a year ago, the two teams met 13 times during the 2011-2012 season. The Privateers took home eight victories while the Warriors came up with five wins. There was just a one-goal differential over the baker’s dozen contests between the squads but that only tells part of the story.
The season series was marked by more than its share of lopsided final scores and animosity. On six occasions, the Privateers beat Akwesasne by four or more goals with a high of seven. Three of The Warriors victories were by one, including one victory in a shootout. Between them, Thousand Islands and Akwesasne combined for 550 penalty minutes just against each other with the Warriors accounting for 381 minutes (out of a league leading 1480 PIMs).
It was however the other two Akwesasne wins that had fans talking on message boards for days and weeks. Those victories came with margins of 19 and 14 respectively and set the subtext for the post-season meeting. Based on perceived over-the-top rough play by the Warriors, Thousand Islands did not field a full roster of regular players for either one and were treated rudely by the host Warriors to the tune of 25-6 and 22-8 beatings.
There is no doubt that the Akwesasne offense has the ability to score at will. Veteran forward and player/assistant coach Pierre Dagenais led the FHL this season with a startling 81 goals and 62 assists for 143 points and a plus-52 rating in 45 games. More than a third of those points came at the expense of the Privateers against whom he tallied 33 goals and 20 assists (he had a total on 18 goals and 10 assists in the two major blowouts). Teammate Sylvain Deschatelets (18-86-104, plus-30) was just as lethal to the Thousand Islands team as he notched five goals and 35 assists against the Privateers. Center Nick Corbeil (34-36-70 in 29 games) out up 11 goals and 10 assists against the Privateers while defenseman Carter Trevisani (7-38-45) put up more than half of his season’s points (2-21-24) on the Thousand Islands squad. Add in Martin Beaulne 24-25-49), Ahmed Mahfouz (7-35-42) and Jeremy Van Hoof (7-27-34) and it is a daunting offense to face.
Goaltending may not be a strong point however. Akwesasne lists three netminders on its playoff roster. Adam Thompson carries a 7-2-1 record into the playoffs. He saw just over one period of action against the Privateers, giving up three goals on twelve shots. Alexandre Vincent went 3-2 in six games but did not play against Thousand Islands. Jacob Lazore went 1-1 against the Privateers with a goals against average that was slightly above nine.
Thousand Islands had eight players score 11 or more points against the Warriors. Brad Smulders (34-54-88, plus-24) led the attack with 12 goals and 13 assists in the contests with Akwesasne. Adam McAllister (37-25-62) put up 24 points including 13 goals on the Warriors while team captain Paul Kelly (31-52-83, plus-21) contributed seven goals and 20 points while Michael Byrd (13-40-53, plus-28) had 18 points against Akwesasne.
The Privateers’ offense is a bit depleted as Justin Levac (25-28-53), Michael Richard (16-28-44) and Ryan Pearson (8-28-36) are all not on the playoff roster. To make matters worse, Jeff Winchester (14-45-59 in 37 games), arguably the team’s best defenseman and now league MVP, was sent to New Jersey after the first set of issues with the Warriors.
Matt Anthony has been a workhorse in net for the Privateers. In 38 appearances, he had a 24-11-2 record with two shutouts and a 3.42 goals against average. He faced Akwesasne ten times and posted a 7-2-1 record with a goals against average of 3.77 in those games. Peter Dundovich (2-2-0, 5.90 goals against) had the other win against the Warriors, giving up eight goals in that game.
With the home ice advantage by virtue of finishing second in the regular season, Thousand Islands opted to start in Akwesasne for game one. It will save the Privateers a trip up to Cornwall Island for a game two and in the event that the Warriors win game one, it could stall some momentum for Akwesasne.
Editor’s Pick: Given the bad blood between the two teams, this series will lean heavily on special teams. Both teams were over 20 percent successful on the power play and Thousand Islands was much better on the penalty kill (84.31 percent to the Warriors’ 75 percent) but Akwesasne tied for the league lead in short-handed goals scored with 20. However, the Privateers went 25-for-74 (33.8 percent) with the man advantage against Akwesasne while the Warriors were just 4-for-21 (19 percent) with the power play against Thousand Islands and gave up 10 short-handed tallies. Given that the Privateers were 5-2 at Bonnie Castle, this series goes the distance of three games and the home standing Privateers move on.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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