State of the Loons; Round 2 Norsemen

 For the second time in Loon history we are in the second round. Last year Wisborg swept us right out of the playoffs, fingers crossed that this year is different. After a hard fought 4-2 series win over the Isotopes the #5 seed Halifax Norsemen invade Capeside.

The season series against Halifax was a lopsided 5-1 but it does not really tell the whole story.  The majority of the games were early in the season before Halifax made key additions to their lineup. Its rather remarkable how the Norsemen have expedited their rebuild. They went from a 43 point 20 win team last year to a 84 point playoff team this year. Key additions of Makar, Kucherov, Johnston and Hertl tend to do that, but the Loons did have their number during the regular season:

HFX 4 CAP 6

CAP 6 HFX 2

CAP 5 HFX 3

HFX 1 CAP 2

HFX 3 CAP 6

CAP 2 HFX 3 (CAP rested all their top players in this season finale)

As we all know there is a massive difference between the regular season and the post season especially when one gm has won a Kehler Cup while the other is in the second round for only the second time.

Simon has Halifax rated at a 70 but that is very deceiving. Prior to this year Halifax had torn down their roster and started a youth based rebuild. Along with the high end talent that was mentioned earlier there are a few stud rookies with lower ratings and well traveled vets filling out the roster that bring that overall rating down.  In the Norsemen's first round win over Seattle the top line was dominant: Hertl 11 points in 6 games, Kucherov 6 goals in 6 games and Makar also had 11 points. The Loons struggled to keep Hintz in check in their first round and if they can't tighten up their defense this could be a long series.

Halifax has the best players in this series and will be interesting to see if their high end talent or the Loons depth will win out. The difference in the series may come down to the goaltenders where the Loons have the advantage in our opinion. This series looks to be a shootout and will be interesting to see who moves on the the Conference Finals.