Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Barely 48 hours after the Toronto Maple Leafs won the elimination game in their quarterfinal series with the Guelph Royals, they are scheduled to take on the Kitchener Panthers in Game 1 of the semifinals.
Is "pwnage" still a current term? Because that best describes the situation between the Leafs and Panthers. This summer, Kitchener won all five regular season games against Toronto. Honestly, I don't remember a time when Toronto kicked this club around. The Panthers always seem to be just that much better whenever these two meet.
Their last postseason meeting was in 2013. Back then, the Panthers won the quarterfinal series four games to two. Since then, the pattern has remained consistent. Pure pwnage.
However. The wild card in all of this is the Leafs themselves. Every postseason since 2013, they have taken their fans on a wild, unpredictable ride. Some years, the ride went straight into a brick wall at the first bend. Other years, the ride has gone all the way to the IBL championship series.
A lot of new faces own none of the history between these clubs. Reeves, Knecht, Takamatsu, Hornostaj, Richardson, Page, DaSilva, Newton, Jones. This is new territory for them. Territory they could stake out for themselves. At the same time, the Leafs veterans could also break new ground in this series.
All of this to say, there is no script here. The Leafs just finished a game where they completely shut down a ballclub stacked with sluggers. And I mean shut them down, as in they won the only no-hitter in IBL postseason history. Talk about momentum.
In keeping with my previous playoff preview, I can only say, who knows. The Leafs entered this postseason with a modest head of steam. They rode it to a series win. They enter this series with a lot more momentum.
Game 1 is tomorrow night. If you're reading this, you'll probably be watching along with me.
Webcasters Eric Penkala and Cory Graham are providing live coverage of each Leafs playoff game and archiving them on YouTube. The channel is Toronto Maple Leafs IBL Webcast.
SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE
Game 1 - Fri Aug 17 at Jack Couch Park, Kitchener - 7:30 pm
Game 2 - Sun Aug 19 at Christie Pits, Toronto - 2:00 pm
Game 3 - Tue Aug 21 at Jack Couch Park, Kitchener - 7:30 pm
Game 4 - Wed Aug 22 at Christie Pits, Toronto - 7:30 pm
Game 5 - Thu Aug 23 at Jack Couch Park, Kitchener - 7:30 pm*
Game 6 - Sat Aug 25 at Christie Pits, Toronto - time TBD*
Game 7 - Sun Aug 26 at Jack Couch Park, Kitchener - 2:00 pm*
* if necessary
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