Courtesy Chris Cochrane, The Chronicle Herald
It will be an AUS Final 6 with a difference starting Friday night at the Halifax Metro Centre.
St. Francis Xavier coach Steve Konchalski concedes that making an appearance in the Final 6 opening round will be a different experience for his X-Men. That is because the X-Men have long been accustomed to finishing the regular season in first or second place and avoiding those dangerous Friday night elimination games.
"This is the first time ever, since the bye came in in 2000," Konchalski answered when asked about the last time his team had failed to earn one of the byes.
"We had it 11 years in a row. This may be a little bit more of a challenge than normal, but X teams always show up and we’ll be ready."
This year’s byes go to 19-1 Cape Breton and 14-6 Dalhousie. St. F.X. placed third at 15-5. Dalhousie finished ahead of St. F.X. in the standings — 44 points to 38 points — because the Tigers fared better in four-point games.
Ironically, this is probably the season when the X-Men could most use the bye and the prospect of a short two-game tournament win. St. F.X. has been hampered by injuries, some of them serious ones, reducing the team’s depth. The extra game isn’t going to help in that regard.
Not surprising, Konchalski sees Cape Breton as the top dog entering the tournament.
"They’re a veteran team with loads of talent," he said of Cape Breton. "They’re the team you’ve got to beat."
CAPERS HAVE A PATH
There are plenty of advantages in this particular season for Cape Breton being the No. 1 seed entering the Final 6.
Obviously, the Capers get through the first round, thanks to the bye. Yet in the second round, they will face the winner of the game between a pair of sub-.500 teams — 7-13 Acadia and 8-12 University of New Brunswick — thanks to the bracket format used for the men’s tournament.
Under that scenario, Cape Breton can advance to the national Final 8 tourney without having to beat a plus-.500 team along the playoff route. Should Cape Breton win Saturday night against Acadia or UNB, the Capers are assured a berth at the nationals since both teams from Sunday’s Final 6 title game will advance.
FORGET THE NUMBERS
Toss out all those secondary regular season numbers about points for and points against and how well teams did on the road and at home.
Sure, strictly by the numbers, the Capers are the best overall team and have the best road record, St. F.X. is the best offensive team, Dalhousie is the best defensive team and so on and so on.But over the years, the Metro Centre has had a knack of making statistics worthless. Numbers don’t reflect the reality that the most successful teams are often ones that learn to be comfortable in the larger- than-usual venue and best adapt to the boisterous crowds.
GREAT OPENER
What could turn out to be one of the most entertaining games of the tournament is Friday night’s opening round contest between the X-Men and Saint Mary’s.
It may look like a bit of a mismatch, with the 15-5 X-Men having a much better season than the 7-13 Huskies. But the numbers here again can be deceiving.
The offensively strong Huskies always seem to get up for this tournament in their backyard and there is little doubt they are a much better team than their record indicates. In fact, the last time these two met, in late January, the X-Men won by only a single point.