I decided to do something a tad different with this preview. Thought it might be fun. Hope you all enjoy.
The season 23 IV.28 championship series is drawing near! The Hunterz have been a IV.28 team since season 18, the Storm since season 19 but soon we will say goodbye to one of these teams, hopefully for good.
The Hunterz are in the midst of their 5th playoff run in 6 seasons in the league. In the past they’ve struggled in the playoffs never making it past the conference finals. They are in uncharted territory now and with the recent movement toward youth and development one can only hope the pressure is not too great on the young core. When asked if this was a concern, Hunterz coach had this to say, “Of course there is pressure and its tough on the young guys but I keep telling them to use it as fuel and rise to the occasion. I continually remind these guys that I believe in them. They’ve all heard the old adage defense wins championships and I honestly believe this group is the strongest defensively of any squad this franchise has had in, well, maybe ever. All we have to do is remain strong defensively and take what we can get on the other side and we’ll succeed.”
The Storm, on the other hand, are in their 3rd playoff run in 5 seasons and have returned to the finals for the 3rd straight time! I asked the Storm’s coach his thoughts on another finals appearance and his response was simple. He said, “Third times a charm. Isn’t that what they say?” He chuckled a bit then went on to say, "This season has had its ups and downs, but we are finally here. The pressure is on them. We were a 4th seed that wasn’t even supposed to make it this far yet here we are. We’ve been here a couple times now so the butterflies are calming down and those guys are first timers; we know they feel it and we know their fans will accept nothing less than a trophy and promotion so it’s all on them.”
One big piece of this series is going to be the absence of Storm team captain Demis Passas. He is an integral part of their offense and will definitely be missed. I managed to catch a few players after practice and ask them how their captain’s injury is going to affect them. Ian Kosta said, “It'll be hard to win without Passas, because he is so much more than a great player. He's a great friend, teammate, and mentor." Kwok Jun Dai said, “I’m going to have my hands full with Looby and Lowengrimm. I wish I had Passas out there making it harder for their guards to get the ball down to those guys.” Demis Passas himself said, “I feel bad missing the most important games of the season but I’ll be there supporting them even if it’s on the bench. I’ll be over at every timeout in their ears shouting encouragements.”
The Hunterz are injury free and are widely considered the favorites going into the series. I caught up with team captain Terrell Looby who said, “I’m the only player left from that championship Hunterz team back in season 16. I’ve been through this and I know this team is good enough. I’m excited to take this team back to D.III but as the veteran leader of the team it’s my responsibility to keep these guys focused on the task at hand. First order of business, weather the Storm.”
The Hunterz players seem at ease despite the pressure of their 1st IV.28 finals appearance. As I entered the locker room after practice I heard quite a few laughs and I was told to ask big man Jaques Lowengrimm about his new nickname. When I did he just shook his head and replied, “Man, the guys keep calling me Windex because coach said I have one job throughout this series and that’s to clean the glass. He’d love scoring out of me but he wants my main focus on cleaning that glass continuously. Their teasing is all in fun; we all know that’s my role and I accept it and will go out there and get the job done.”
In less than 24 hours we will see the series opener at the Bowtech Arena. Can’t wait to see how this plays out.