INNISFAIL – The hard work now begins.
The Innisfail Eagles beat the Stony Plain Eagles with an 8-2 thumping in the final game of the regular season at home on Feb. 1.
They took the season six games to one, earning them home ice advantage in a best-of-seven playoff series against Stony Plain that begins Feb. 22.
Innisfail head coach Brian Sutter said his team will continue to work hard to improve their game in the playoffs.
"You got to keep preventing chances against. They're a very skilled group,” said Sutter. “You got to be busy working for the puck. You got to get good goaltending. You got to play good as a group and you got to be prepared," said Sutter.
"If you're good out of the gate and you finish strong everything in between looks after itself."
Innisfail opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game with a goal from veteran Chad Robinson, who netted a hat trick in Saturday’s 8-2 victory.
"The regular season's behind us...and the real season starts now," said Robinson. "We talked before the game tonight that we wanted to carry some momentum into the playoffs so I think we did a good job of doing that. Now we just got to do the same thing the next game."
The Birds dominated in the opening period, taking a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes with goals from Parker Smyth, Quinton Lisoway and another from Robinson.
The second frame saw much of the same, with three more markers from Innisfail’s Colton Hayes, Darren Reid and Smyth’s second goal of the night.
Stony Plain got on the board late in the second period and only managed to get one more goal against Innisfail in the dying minutes of the final frame.
Chad Robinson scored the game's only power-play goal and his team’s eighth marker, just past the halfway point of the third period.
Kyle Fraser was in net for Innisfail for the first two periods, while Kraymer Barnstable was between the pipes for the last 20 minutes of the game.
Robinson said they will take the playoffs one game at a time.
"I think we just got to keep doing what we did all season,” he said. “We were successful in the regular season and we just got to continue that in the playoffs.
“As long as we stay sharp and play the way we have this regular season we're pretty confident we can get the job done," Robinson concluded.
The first game of the playoffs is at the Innisfail Arena on Feb. 22. Puck drop is 8:15 p.m.
