Final Regular Season Weekend Full of Intrigue and Playoff Fever
March 26, 2007 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Fargo-Moorhead Jets News Release
Fargo (ND) With a regular season division title already locked up, the Fargo-Moorhead Jets will go into their final regular season weekend series with virtually nothing to gain on paper. However, much like a Quentin Tarantino film, one has to go inside the obvious to find the true meaning of the FM Jets' impending season finale with the North Iowa Outlaws.
While its true the FM Jets (35-19-6, 76pts) have secured the North American Hockey League Central Division's top spot in next month's playoffs, whom they'll be playing and at what level of confidence they will they taking into the first round series remains to be determined.
Almost nothing was decided last weekend in the Central Division playoff push. Much like cleaning one window off a dirty car, there is still much that has to be done. Four teams are in contention for the division's final two playoff spots, with four points separating third from sixth place. Prior to last weekend, the separation between third and sixth was only two points, so not much has changed with the four teams.
The FM Jets' will take on the fourth-seeded team in the first round of the playoffs which start April 6th.
"It's always like this in the league with at least one division coming down to the wire. It shows how evenly matched everyone is and what it's coming down to his hard work and effort" said FM Jets' head coach Chad Johnson. "We've been set for a while, but we've been a part of this because we've taken on these teams that are playing desperate hockey and we're learning first hand that effort is the difference in wins and losses."
The FM Jets will once again be on the front lines of the playoff push in their final two regular season games this weekend against the North Iowa Outlaws on Friday and Saturday night. North Iowa is currently in third place and has their magic number to clinch a playoff spot down to two points. The Outlaws can clinch their first-ever playoff berth with a win, or Springfield loss, or a combination of overtime losses.
For the FM Jets, it'll be another visit into the meat grinder. Though the FM Jets have held first place everyday since Oct. 20, and clinched the regular season title on March 17, they have spent the entire month of March facing teams who have been in the thick of various playoff positioning scenarios.
As a result, the FM Jets have gone just 2-7-3 in their last 12 games, by far the franchise's worst stretch in four seasons. This includes a record five-game winless streak (0-4-1) earlier in March, and a current four-game winless streak (0-2-2).
The latest set-backs coming last weekend in Alexandria as the FM Jets' lost 4-3 on March 23, and 2-1 in a shootout on March 24. With the wins, the Alexandria Blizzard moved in fourth place in the Central Division and are in position to earn their third straight playoff appearance.
The FM Jets' learned a valuable lesson from the losses says Johnson. "We haven't been playing with any sense of urgency while teams like Alexandria have been and what is happening is they are outworking us. I think it hit home with the players after Friday's game and despite the loss on Saturday there was a change in the positive direction."
On both nights, the FM Jets scored first and took 1-0 leads into the second period. However, on both nights the FM Jets were unable to hold those leads while the Alexandria Blizzard dominated the second period. On March 23, the Blizzard netted three goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead, before increasing it to 4-1 early in the third period.
Goals by Ryan Adams (Deloraine, MB) and Jesse Echternach (Bemidji, MN) late in the third period brought the FM Jets to within 4-3 by they couldn't get the tying goal.
Alexandria held the FM Jets to only 24 shots on goal, one of the teams' lowest totals of the year and only the seventh time they had been held to less than 26 shots in a game.
On March 24, The FM Jets once again took a 1-0 first period lead and actually controlled play in the first period with 13-7 shots on goal advantage. Nevertheless, needing the win much more and playing as such, Alexandria took control in the second period with a 17-9 shots on goal advantage and tying the game on the period's lone goal early in the frame.
FM Jets' goaltender Austin Lee (Bloomington, MN) was solid in net during the second period making 16 saves and finished the game 34 overall.
The teams played a scoreless third period and five-minute overtime before heading to a shootout where Alexandria quickly dispatched the FM Jets. Alexandria scored on their first three shooters, while the FM Jets were held off the board by Blizzard goalie Dustin Carlson.
It's the third shootout of the season between the teams. Alexandria won both shootouts on their home ice (Nov. 17 and Mar. 24) and the FM Jets won at the Carlson Coliseum (Feb. 17).
Iron Man
Chris Connolly (Duluth, MN) is the lone FM Jets' player who has played in every game this season. The last game he missed was Nov. 18, 2006 in a home game versus Bozeman. In all, he has missed only two games total.
In the team's first three seasons, only two other players have gone the distance. Dain Prewitt (04-05) and Jon Halstenson (05-06).
Working Overtime
After playing only three overtime games in their first 43 games of this season, the FM Jets have had six of the last 17 go into the extra session. In all, the FM Jets are 1-4 in overtime games and are 2-2 in shootouts.
The nine overtime games for the FM Jets is a single-season franchise high.
Central TEAM GP W L OTL PTS WPCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD L-TEN STREAK yFargo-Moorhead 60 35 19 6 76 .633 211 190 1252 17-11-1 18-8-5 1-6-3 0-2-2 xSouthern Minnesota 60 33 23 4 70 .583 196 172 1210 13-16-1 20-7-3 5-4-1 0-1-0 North Iowa 60 27 27 6 60 .500 172 193 1420 14-13-5 13-14-1 6-3-1 4-0-0 Alexandria 60 27 29 4 58 .483 160 188 1288 13-16-2 14-13-2 7-2-1 4-0-0 Springfield 60 26 29 5 57 .475 183 193 1568 16-14-0 10-15-5 5-4-1 0-1-1 Bismarck 60 25 29 6 56 .467 188 216 1258 14-12-3 11-17-3 5-5-0 1-0-0
Last Week
Mar. 23 @ Alexandria Blizzard 3-4 Loss
Mar. 24 @ Alexandria Blizzard 1-2 SOL
This Week
Mar. 30 North Iowa Outlaws 7:35pm
Mar. 31 North Iowa Outlaws 7:05pm
The FM Jets Junior A Hockey Club is in its fourth season as members of the North American Hockey League. The NAHL is the nation's largest Junior A hockey league and is now in its 31st year of operation. For more information, visit fmjets.com or call (701) 235-2354.
Jets home games are played at the John E. Carlson Coliseum in Fargo, ND. All games are broadcasted on Today's Hot New Country 103.9 THE TRUCK and audiosportsonline.com.
North American Hockey League Stories from March 26, 2007
- Phantoms' Graham commits to Ferris State - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- Final Regular Season Weekend Full of Intrigue and Playoff Fever - Fargo-Moorhead Jets
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