Tahoe Knight Monster assistant captain Logan Nelson skates up the boards while looking to pass earlier this season. Nelson leads the Knight Monsters in points in the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs with eight.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters have had all week to prepare for the best team in the ECHL’s Western Conference.
The first-year franchise will travel to Kansas City for game 1 on Sunday, the first contest of a seven-game series.
Tahoe is brimming with confidence after a sweep of Wichita in the opening round, following losing five-of-six to the Thunder in the regular season.
It’s a similar story against the KC Mavericks, who went 4-1-1 against Tahoe in the regular season.
However, Tahoe and KC haven’t matched up since late January, giving both teams a chance to implement new quirks to prepare.
The Mavericks don’t present a ton of new challenges compared to Tahoe’s first round opponent, but Kansas City is much deeper as a team than the Thunder.
“(They’re) a little bit deeper than Wichita,” said Tahoe head coach Alex Loh. “Wichita had a really good top line, but I think Kansas City, top to bottom, they have a lot of guys who put the puck in the net.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The No. 1 threat is Kansas City forward Cade Borchardt (No. 28), who led the ECHL in goals this season with 40 in 58 games played.
Borchardt scored four goals in the opening round series, which went six games as the Mavericks downed the Tulsa Oilers, 4-2. He also led the ECHL in plus-minus (+43)
“We'll be very aware who their top players are on their side,” said Loh. “Cade’s been really good for them all year and a good player. Yeah, we’ll know when he's on the ice. We'll make sure that the guys that are out there against him know their jobs. That way we can hopefully neutralize him as much as we can.”
Defenseman Marcus Crawford (15) was top 10 in points scored as a defenseman with nine goals and 36 assists in the regular season.
In net, KC features Jack LaFontaine, who led the league in shutouts (five) and goals against average in the opening round of the postseason (1.45).
The Mavericks had one of the best records in the league when scoring first, posting a 38-6-1 record in the regular season when tallying the first goal.
It goes without saying, but Tahoe wants to be the first team on the board every night if it can be.
“It's always important. Especially in playoffs, getting that first goal, it’ll be big in game one to kind of get things rolling for us,” said Jett Jones. “But any game you can go out there and get the lead early it's awesome.”
(Simon Pinard skates on net during the Tahoe Knight Monsters’ regular season contest against Wichita. Pinard has three goals and three assists in the first round sweep of the Thunder. / Ron Harpin)
CONFIDENCE IN BUNCHES
Sweeping Wichita in the opening round has put a strong air of confidence behind the Knight Monsters.
Sure, they’re about to go toe-to-toe with the best team in the conference, but Tahoe has been battling from behind all season.
“We start in their rink so it's going to be important for us to get a momentum right away,” said forward Simon Pinard. “I mean, even if they scored the first goal we've been down some goals before. We've come back. I think we (saw) it against Wichita. So it's not going to be a big deal for us.”
Wichita had bested Tahoe in five-of-six regular season meetings before Tahoe ended their season in four games.
Pregame rituals certainly won’t change now, either.
The Knight Monsters aren’t much of a superstitious bunch, but do have several players that play Sewer (a two-touch game with a soccer ball or smaller ball) pregame.
“I think that’s about it,” said Logan Nelson. “We don't have too many superstitions, I don't think.”
Superstitions or not, it’s still just hockey.
“They know how to score. They know how to defend. I think they had two shutouts last series. So you just got to stick to our game plan, be simple, and be direct and get pucks to the net and try to go to those dirty areas,” said Nelson.