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For Jr. Blues head coach Chris Wyler, the past few
weeks have been a dream come true. At the end of March his players fought their way into
the fourth-place slot in the North American Hockey League’s Central
Division, earning their first trip to the NAHL playoffs in years. Two weeks
ago they shocked the North Iowa Outlaws, the division’s top-ranked
team, when they stole the first two games of the five-game playoff series,
in Mason City, Iowa. And then, last Friday at the Nelson Center, they
finished North Iowa off, beating the Outlaws 5-4 in overtime and sweeping
their way into the second round of playoffs. “As a coach,” Wyler says, “you
always hope that your team starts to jell in March, and we’ve certainly done that. I’m
pleased with the way they’ve developed.”
Jr. Blues goalie Phil Cook, one of three veteran
players previously featured in Illinois Times [see Amanda Robert, “On the edge,” Oct.
4], says a fourth game against North Iowa was the last thing the Jr. Blues
wanted. After some heated back-and-forth scoring, the Jr.
Blues tied up the game with 29 seconds remaining on the clock. As the
players trudged off the ice and into their Nelson Center locker room before
overtime, Cook says, they knew they had to stay composed and beat their
opponents to the next goal. “We couldn’t give them any room to
breathe,” Cook says. “We had our foot on them, and we just had
to finish them off.”
It only took four minutes and 21 seconds. Cook and the rest of the Jr. Blues will travel to
Alexandria, Minn., on Friday to battle the Alexandria Blizzard for the
first two games of the Central Division championship. They’ll return
to Springfield to continue the five-game series on April 25 and, if
necessary, April 26. If it comes down to a fifth game, the Jr. Blues and
the Blizzard will duke it out back in Alexandria. If they keep their momentum going, Cook says, he
believes the Jr. Blues can make it all the way to the Robertson Cup
Championships — the NAHL finals — in St. Louis. “Every season is long, and there are ups and
downs,” Cook says, “but it’s not how you start —
it’s how you finish. “We finished the end of our season well, and
we’re keeping that going in playoffs.”
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2008.
