It’s been an incredible season for the U17 AAA Eastman Selects, and Head Coach Mark Woloshyn says the job is not over yet, they are prepared to be at their best as they battle Brandon in the league final.

“I think it’s been good,” Woloshyn says when looking back over the team’s work this playoff run. “It’s been what we’ve been building for all season, obviously. When you get to the playoffs, everything you did in the regular season doesn’t really mean too much. For us, the guys are thinking pretty straight right now, and they’re excited to get going tonight against Brandon.”

Standout areas

Going into game one tonight, Woloshyn says his team has an advantage that will play a big factor in the series. “I think for us, it’s just been our depth. You know, I think it’s been critical for us all year. We have all four lines going. All six defensemen are playing extremely well right now. Put it together, and you’re going to have success. It’s cliché, but it’s true. If you have everybody buying into what we’re doing, you’re going to have success. We’re ready, we’re excited for it, and we’re ready to get going already.”

Scouting Brandon

For Woloshyn, he knows Brandon is going to be a tough team to overcome. “We’ll have to watch the power play,” he says with a serious tone. “They have a pretty decent power play unit, and that’s what we focused on in the past couple of practices. Strengthen our PK and whatnot, the special teams overall. That will be critical for us to have success. During the regular season, that was something that Brandon was better at than we were. We fixed it, and now we’re ready for it, and we’ll be ready to go.”

No pressure, no problems

After such a strong regular season, Woloshyn doesn’t think there is added pressure, and even if there was, this group has no problem with it. “We’ve just been taking it all in stride,” he says with a smile. “Back in September, we didn’t really know what kind of team we were going to have. Obviously, we had that pretty good start. We went 11-0. We had a couple of lessons learned along the way, but I think now it’s not pressure for us. We’re just taking it day by day, game by game. At the end of the day, us and Brandon, the season series is split 2-2. So we don’t feel any pressure. We’re just out here, have some fun, and whatever happens happens for us.”

In the room

Woloshyn says he doesn’t plan to have a big speech or anything out of the ordinary, just business as usual, as the team gets ready to head from the room onto the ice. “Nothing’s going to change,” he says with a grin. “I’ll go in, see what the guys say. We’ll announce the starting lineup, and then we leave the room, and that’s when the leadership group takes over. Whatever they tell the guys, I know they’ll be ready to go. But we’re not going to change anything now. We’ve got this far with what we’ve been doing. So why fix something that’s not broken yet.”

Seeing the leadership step up throughout the year makes a hockey guy like Woloshyn very proud. “It’s exciting, you know. I know they’re very young, I don’t know, 15, 16 years old, but this is going to be something that they remember for the rest of their lives. Good or bad. They’ll take away these experiences. I’ll help it down the long road, whether it’s in hockey or getting a job or going to university in the future or whatnot, but it’s just exciting. Really proud of the guys this year. No matter what happens, they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to, and they’re ready for it. I’m just proud of the group. I’m all proud of 20 guys. We just want to get going tonight. We’re ready to go.”

Advantages of home ice

If the season series is any indication, Woloshyn says the advantages that come with playing at home will factor into the matchup. “Both teams won both games they played at home. Like we won both games at home. Brandon won both games at home. So home ice will be a factor. The nice thing about that is we do have the last change. That’s something we work forward towards, but I also know Beaujour is going to be having a bigger crowd for us tonight. So I’m hoping the guys will get excited to be playing in front of that. We’re ready. We’ve waited, and we’ve had a week off, and we’re ready to go tonight. It’s been too long.”

Nervous excitement 

It’s not every year a team or a coach gets to the finals, so Woloshyn is soaking in the experience and admits there will be some butterflies tonight when the puck is about to drop. “There’ll be a little bit of goosebumps,” he says with a smile. “Kind of funny, but the last time I was in the finals was actually when I was playing with the city Selects back when I was 15 years old. So it’s been a long time for me personally. But I’m excited. I know our staff is excited too, and all the players are ready to go. There’ll be a lot of emotions, but like we tell the guys, win your first shift, ride the wave. There’s going to be highs and lows. Just embrace it all.”