Badgers battling for playoff spot
Jensen Murphy has put together another solid season between the pipes for the Brock Badgers. Photo by: BROCK UNIVERISTY.
It’s crunch time for the Brock Badgers women’s hockey team.
The Badgers, 8-7, are in the midst of a tough battle for a playoff spot, which is par for the course for head coach Margot Page.
“It’s been tight every single year I’ve been coach,” she said. “It’s probably going to come down to the last weekend because we play three-point games and who gets the bounces and who doesn’t.
“I’m used to it because the last couple of years have been the same.”
The Badgers have nine game remaining in the schedule and are currently tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with Guelph, one point up on Western.
Considering only eight of 13 teams qualify for the post-season, it a pretty select group to move on and a schedule that leaves little margin for error.
“It’s awesome from a hockey program standpoint and it sucks from a coach’s standpoint because I leave a game and I’m completely fatigued because it’s so intense,” Page said. “You have to be on for every single game. Even the games we have won, we’ve only one by a couple of goals, and the games we have been beat, it’s the same thing.”
Page says that kind of intensity can only help should the Badgers qualify for the post-season, as well as down the road.
“We’re in a really good spot right now because within reach of a playoff spot but you look at it and everybody kind of is,” she said. “We’re a younger team so we’ll make our mistakes and have our inconsistencies and things like that.”
Page feels she has to still walk a fine line between competing in the moment while still thinking long term.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” she said. “You can create your own destiny, but you also have to go through the process and understand who we are and where we want to go, not just this year, but in the future. You have to make sure you don’t change too many things up.
“You can change a few things up to make yourself better, get your special teams and some of the things you have been working on and building and getting better and getting everybody feeling better about themselves.”
Having said that, when push comes to shove, Page’s first priority is making the post-season.
“I think from a Brock women’s hockey standpoint, we want to make playoffs,” she said. “Once you get into playoffs, I think everybody knows it’s a whole new season and we want to extend it as long as we can.”
To qualify for the playoffs, veteran goaltender Jensen Murphy will be a key.
“Jensen has been solid and we need her to continue to be that way,” Page said. “We need our veterans to lead the way in terms of experience and not panic and stick with the plan. Our other players have done a good job of evening things out and performing when we need them to. Our last game our freshmen got on the scoreboard for two of the three goals.”
The Badgers are at Ryerson Thursday and home to Toronto Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
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