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Bring on the Yoopers

Alpena Flyers ready to begin first home playoff series

News File Photo Alpena's Dean Schmanski tries to put the puck past Ironwood goaltender Ian Carroll during a junior hockey game at Northern Lights Arena in October. Schmanski and the Alpena Flyers will host Ironwood in a best-of-three playoff series starting tonight.

One team, one goal.

That has been the motto for this year’s young and talented Alpena Flyers team under first year head coach Russ Anderson.

For the first time in their three years of existence, the Flyers are set to host a playoff series after finishing fourth place in the Midwest division. The Flyers also had their first winning season, finishing 24-19.

Alpena will host the fifth seeded Ironwood Yoopers (19-19) in a best of three, first round matchup beginning tonight at Northern Lights Arena.

Puck drop is 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday if necessary.

“It’s exciting for us as an organization to be able to host playoffs,” Anderson said. “Our motto is one team, one goal and our first goal was to push all season for home ice, we accomplished that and now our goal is to get out of this first round, but it starts one period and one game at a time.”

Alpena comes into the playoffs as the youngest team in the division, but the amount of young talent, sprinkled in with a few veterans has been a good recipe for success this season.

First year players Rhett Limback and Dean Schmanski are first and third respectively on the team in total points and captain Nic Baranyai is second in points as the trio is not only tops on their team, but among the leading scorers in the division.

The Flyers as a team were also one of the most efficient power play units along with finishing in the top three in goals for and goals against in the division.

“What we were able to do during the regular season and what some of our guys were able to accomplish speaks volumes of the group of guys that we have in the locker room,” Anderson said.

The Flyers will host a team they a familiar with and have had great success against this year. Alpena defeated Ironwood last weekend to secure home ice and have beaten the Yoopers six times in eight meetings this season, including winning the last three matchups.

The physical Yoopers will come into Northern Lights Arena tonight with the goal in mind to spoil the first ever home playoff series for Alpena and despite the recent success, the Flyers know they will be in for a battle.

“Ironwood is a tough team to play against. They are real physical, they’re a big team and move the puck well. I think we match up well against them, but we just can’t do too much,” Anderson said. “We need to take it one game at a time and if we look ahead of them, they can jump on us. I think the guys are ready to have the mentality of starting over because anything can happen in the playoffs and I think it’s going to be a good battle.”

Most of Alpena’s roster is made up of local and hometown skaters as 15 of the 23 players on the Flyers roster are from or grew up playing hockey in Alpena.

Baranyai is the lone local skater that is not from Alpena. Baranyai lives in Hillman, but spent much of his childhood playing in Alpena and for their teams. The captain is grateful to play for the Flyers for the past three years.

“It means a lot to be able to play a home playoff game. This team has come a long way in three years since starting out with a roster of 10 or 11 guys to now having over 20,” Baranyai said. “It’s always nice to play in the home town in front of the home crowd and it’s a big accomplishment for us.”

The Flyers were able to come together as a group throughout the season despite the huge differences in age and at times it was a difficult learning experience for Anderson during his first year as head coach, but the team was able to live up to its name and learn and grow on the fly.

“To be able to host a playoff series and for the first time in franchise history is special,” Anderson said. “Alpena is a great community and a great hockey community who is always behind their teams. We’ve seen more support as the season went on and it’s going to be fun to play tonight because this team is ready.”

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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