Vipers not ones to pick and choose

Mar 21 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

WITH two days of the regular season left, the Vipers could face any one of three teams in the first round of the play-offs, including runaway champions Sheffield Steelers, writes STUART RAYNER.

But player-coach Rob Wilson insists his team has no intention of picking and choosing after being the beneficiaries of that attitude last season.

By the time the Vipers face-off at home to Coventry Blaze tomorrow, the seventh place they have occupied since November 15 could be under threat. Victory for Edinburgh Capitals at home to Manchester Phoenix tonight will set up the possibility of them overtaking the Vipers on the last day if they win at Hull Stingrays and Wilson’s men do not beat Coventry.

Whoever finishes eighth will face Sheffield home and away, probably next weekend, to decide who proceeds to finals weekend on April 4-5.

If not, it will be Coventry or Nottingham Panthers. The Panthers are currently second but the Blaze, two points behind, play their game in hand at home to Belfast Giants today. Although Sheffield are the only one of the Vipers’ three potential opponents they have beaten all season, Wilson regards form as irrelevant in the play-offs.

“If it’s Coventry, we’ll do work on Coventry, it could be Sheffield or Nottingham,” he said. “I’m not bothered who we play. I don’t have a preference.

“When you do try and do that, you can get problems. Belfast did that last year. They pretty much made a statement that they wanted to play us. I thought that would backfire on them and it did (the Vipers beat them on penalty shots in last season’s quarter-finals). We’ll be ready for whoever it is and we’ll give it our best shot.

“We’ve been there (finals weekend) for the last two out of three years. I want to make it three out of four.

“Coventry and Nottingham we’ve struggled with, but when we won the play-offs (in 2006), everyone thought we were going to get shellacked by Belfast.

“We ended up upsetting them, outplaying them all night, and we got to the final.

“I don’t think any of the records over the regular season matter.”

Tomorrow’s game faces off at 4.30pm.