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Warning to Kimberley Dynamiters players: your coach doesn't want you to read the rest of this article.
Okay, for everyone else, here's the news they don't need to hear: the Nitros have clinched a playoff spot before Christmas.
Although Kimberley has 17 games and almost two months left on their schedule, there is already no possible way for the fifth-place Columbia Valley Rockies to overtake them.
The Invermere-based club has 14 games remaining, but only nine points to build upon. If they ran the table, they would only reach 37 points. Kimberley has 38.
Kevin MacKay doesn't want his players thinking about that at all.
"Absolutely not," said the Nitros bench boss. "We don't want to look at what's behind us. If we're in fourth right now, we've got to look ahead and that's to the two teams just in front of us. We've done that all year: we haven't concerned ourselves with what's behind us. We're more worried about what we have to do to get better every day. I think we'll just keep that mindset going."
MacKay said he's had no interest in what was happening at the bottom of the Eddie Mountain Division.
"We're trying to shoot for second spot. I think that's a realistic goal at this stage," he said. "We've got to have guys pick up their game a little bit over the next seven weeks, but it's there if we want it bad enough. We're just as good as Golden and Creston."
The Rockets and Thundercats sit six and one point(s) ahead of the Dynamiters respectively, but the Nitros hold a game or two in hand on both.
The Rockies, on the other hand, can only play spoiler from here until their season ends on Valentine's Day. Their early elimination was a formality, considering they lost their first nine games of the season by a combined score of 75-15.
"They struggled right from the beginning," said MacKay. "Even if you start to get better, that's a tough spot you're in when you're that far behind after the first month. I think everyone kind of knew that (they weren't bound for the playoffs). It just wasn't official, it wasn't mathematical — but it is now."
The Dynamiters aren't so concerned with math right now as enjoying the numeral nine; as in the number of days between games during the Christmas break.
MacKay hopes the break, which ends next Monday, will be a tonic as forwards Corey Allen and Brennan Foreman mend from joint injuries.
"This time of year, guys get banged up and bruised a little bit, so a week off might help," said MacKay. "Hopefully everyone comes back rejuvenated, and all the owies gone."
Most of the KIJHL won't return to action until 2010, except for a New Year's Eve tilt between Castlegar and Nelson, and a pair of games between the Dynamiters and Fernie Ghostriders before then.
"We've been going pretty good, winning seven of our last eight," said MacKay. "When you get some time off, it can go either way: it can be good for you, or it can hurt you trying to get the momentum back. There's nothing like going against the top team in your division to get that going. They'll be in the same boat we are with the week off, probably only one practice before the game. Who's to say what kind of hockey it will be? I'm sure it will be intense."
After that, it will get even more intense — assuming the rivals don't just get bored with each other.
You see, Kimberley's next four games are against the Ghostriders.
Next Monday, they're in Fernie. Kimberley will then play host on Wednesday, Dec. 30 (a game that had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved ahead a day to avoid being played the same night as the Kootenay Ice).
The Dynamiters then start the New Year with back-to-back trips to Fernie on Jan. 2 and 8.
"I'm not real happy with the scheduling, but that's what happens when you've got 17 teams and you try to work everybody in," said MacKay.
Fernie and Kimberley lobbied for holiday home games against each other because they're always the biggest draws for fans.
The games in Fernie to start the year are likely just a result of the shuffling that takes place to make a schedule come together.
"We've got to beat them, so hopefully we'll get the first one and put the pressure on them," said MacKay. "We'll see where we stand after those four games."
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The Big Bang Progressive 50 / 50 DRAW!
The Dynamiters have a great raffle underway. Tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00
You can purchase your tickets from Dynamiters Players or Executive members. Also at Dynamiter Home Games at the Guest Services table.
Draw date will be on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at the Dynamiters Final Regular Season Home Game.
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