Playoff hockey is not for the weak.

It is physical, demanding, gutsy and flawed.

Last week, the Davidson Cyclones senior men’s hockey team put on display all four of those characteristics in an outstanding 7-0 provincial “C” quarter-final win over the Kyle Elks Feb. 23 and a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the LeRoy Braves last Wednesday in semi-final Long Lake Hockey League (LLHL) playoff competition.

Both games featured hard-hitting end-to-end action where all players involved gave their best, but in the end it was a goalpost that stopped the Cyclones from completing a perfect playoff week.

“We played well enough to win, but we never got the bounces our own way,” said Cyclones forward Brett Siroski on the Braves game.

One of those bounces was a shot by Davidson defenceman Zack Sim that rang off the post with 25 seconds left in the third and would have tied the game at fives. That post stopped a comeback tie for the Cyclones, which would have forced the game into extra frames and given Davidson a chance at tying the series at one game apiece.

With the loss, the Cyclones fall to 0-2 in the best of five LLHL series.

Leading up to that post, the Cyclones were dominating the Braves continually pushing the play into the LeRoy defensive zone and peppering Braves goaltender Blair Miskolczi with shots.

“He made a lot of good saves,” said Siroski, adding Miskolcki also did the same thing to them in game one, a 9-1 Braves victory Feb. 22 at the LeRoy Rink.

Carter Smith, scoring his second of the night at the 11-minute mark of the third and Cyclones captain Derek Allan potting one with 1:38 left to go in the game made it close, but Miskolczi and his post made sure that would be all.

“It was a good game,” said Cyclones head coach Jason Shaw. “We had lots of chances to score, but we just hit posts and crossbars. LeRoy is a good team and I thought we were right there to the end.”

To read more please see the March 4 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

March madness is here for the Davidson Raiders senior boys basketball team as they head to conferences in Outlook this weekend in their bid to make a run at a provincial championship.

The Raiders have been playing better of late and sit at “about .500” as their regular season wrapped up last week with a back and forth 61-55 loss to the Watrous Wildcats Feb. 26 at the Davidson Gym.

“We played really well (despite the loss),” said Raiders head coach Jeremy Murphy. “We played a little bit more consistently, but it happens. It was a good game, really close and very intense.”

Davidson started off slowly against the Wildcats going down 17-14 by the end of the first quarter and 32-26 by the half, but stayed in the game throughout with strong defensive play resulting in numerous Watrous turnovers. On offence, Raiders forward Kurri Reich led the charge continually pushing the Wildcats defence by setting up drives to the basket instead of settling for outside shots.

After the half, Davidson came out strong and thanks to a couple choice threes by Raiders forward Matthias McCreary and a strong inside game by guard Patrick Nordmarken, who continually found himself at the free-throw line, the team moved ahead 45-41 heading into the fourth. In the last frame, Watrous forward Colby McGregor led a press against the Raiders pushing his team to a strong finish and a resulting 61-55 win.

“We turned the ball over a lot, but it was the first game after the break for us and I knew we would be rusty,” said Wildcats head coach Doug Thomas. “The boys continue to impress me as the season goes on. They continue to play together and encourage each other and not worry about the officials. We were missing a few players, so I’m proud they came out and played well.”

Murphy said the boys have showed a lot of progress as the season wore on and the players have developed more of a team game over time. He said as they head into conferences this weekend he feels good that the team can win the necessary two games in Outlook to advance to regionals.

“We’re going to play hard and try to win some games.”