You see, in each of the last two years, the Warriors have had their season, which often starts with lofty expectations, halted by their eastern rivals, the Peterborough Lakers.
Last year the Warriors proved to be little more than a speed bump for the Lakers as they cruised to a five-game series win en route to capturing the Minto Cup championship. And in 2005, despite jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, the Warriors again fell short against Peterborough, getting ousted in seven.
This time around, however, they were determined to change the final outcome.
Nick Cotter scored five times, twice into an empty net, as the Warriors posted a convincing 13-7 win to wrap up their first-round series with the Lakers in five games.
They will now await the winner of the Brampton/St. Catharines series to determine where they will start the second round of the playoffs.
If Brampton wins, Whitby will open on the road at Six Nations. If St. Catharines wins, the Warriors will head to Orangeville.
Quite frankly though, in the eyes of Warriors coach Jeff McComb, the opponent doesn't really matter.
"I don't really care who we play," he said Wednesday. "If we want to win an Ontario championship, we have to beat the best team. Six Nations and Orangeville finished one and two, so whoever we get they are the team that is in front of us and we've got to beat them."
And if they can put everything together much the same way they managed to against the Lakers, they could be in store for an upset. McComb looked back on Lakers series with a sense of satisfaction and surprise.
"I think we were certainly the older, more mature team this year. They had a pretty young team, but on the other hand, they are the defending Minto Cup champs and they played with that confidence too," said the coach. "Did I think we could do it in five? Yes I did. Am I a little bit surprised though that it didn't go a little bit longer? Yeah, maybe."
All things considered, however, it's clear the better team did come out on top. The Warriors showed they could win the close games early in the series and then showed that killer instinct, something they've lacked at times this year, to close out the series at their first opportunity.
Stealing a game in Peterborough didn't hurt either.
"Getting a win in Peterborough was huge and that certainly put us in the driver seat," stated McComb. "We were down 5-1 after the first period in Game 4 and I think our second period I thought the composure we showed and the maturity that our group showed just to keep coming and coming. Our guys just didn't let it get to them. That was huge for us and obviously the difference in the series."
