The road to the Founders’ Cup will run through Regina for the Prince Albert Predators.
The Predators trail 1-0 in the best-of-three series against the Queen City Kings for a spot at the Founders Cup and will travel to Regina on Sunday to finish the series. Game 2 of the best-of-three series starts at 1 p.m. with Game 3 being played at 7 p.m., if necessary.
Queen City defeated the Predators in Prince Albert at the end of last month 11-10 in overtime to take the series lead.
Heading to Regina needing to win both games to punch their ticket to the Founders Cup, Predator head coach Lucas Wells says the team isn’t afraid of the pressure of elimination.
“I think it’s going to be difficult, but I don’t think the difficulty is going to be on us. I think the pressure is all on Regina. We’re not supposed to go to overtime. We’re not supposed to be in any games against them. We’ve got nothing to lose at this point. We just got to go out and play our game, play physical and attack like we normally do. We can’t sit back. We’ve got to be willing to take chances, and if those chances pay off, perfect.”
Matthew Cudmore has been a key contributor for the Predators all season long. In 12 PGLL games this season, he has registered 32 goals and 46 assists for 78 points. He sits second in league scoring behind teammate Brayden Rieger who finished the campaign with 86 points.
Heading into the Founders’ Cup playdown on Sunday, Cudmore says the Predators are feeling confident that they can get the job done.
“I think with us our mentality is never a doubt, we know what we can do, we can play well, we can make those fast plays and we can keep our head in the game. We’re focused really well and just come out with guns blazing and just getting it done.”
In order to make it into the series against Regina, the Predators knocked off the Saskatchewan SWAT in a play-in game 15-6 back on May 24 at the Kinsmen Arena.
Cudmore says the Predators are feeling confident about taking on Queen City if they can play a game up to their ability.
“I think knowing that for them saying that we were their hardest game this year, that really makes us want to go and beat them. I don’t think we played a full 60 minutes here at home and came out with an OT loss. I think if we play our absolute hardest, we can get it done there.”
The Predators finished the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League (PGLL) campaign with a perfect 12-0 record and will play in the league final, regardless of the result of the Founders Cup play-in.
The Queen City Kings compete in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) and currently sit in first place in the East Division with a 12-4 record on the season. The Kings have three games left on their regular season schedule against the Winnipeg Blizzard and Saskatchewan SWAT after the play-in.
Wells says the Predators are looking to play more of their style of lacrosse on Sunday compared to what they showed in Game 1.
“Game one was a very emotional game for us. We have 500 people here. On offence, I felt like we rushed shots and we took bad shots. We were moving our feet before we were catching the ball. We were overthinking things. Defensively, we wanted to make great plays instead of good plays, where sometimes good plays win you games and great plays don’t, because those great plays can be risky.”
The Predators are sending a fan bus down to Regina that leaves from the West Hill Wendy’s at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Wells says he expects the contest between the two clubs to be extremely competitive.
“I think we match up really well.. I think our back end is physical. Our offense is really quick, and they’re really fast. We transition the ball really well. They transition the ball fantastic as well. Their offense moves around a lot. Their defense is good. They’re quick. They’re not overly physical, but they make up for that with quickness. Overall, it’s going to be a fast game, just like it was in game one, and that’s what I expect.”
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