The Portage Terriers are prepared and ready for game one of the postseason tonight. They will be opening up the first-round in a best-of-seven series with the Dauphin Kings. These two teams split the season series each winning three games. Forward Carter Barley describes what they'll have to be aware of in this matchup.

"They're a good team," says Barley. "They're very physical and they try and get under your skin. They like chirping a lot so we kind of just have to stay out of that stuff and play our game."

The Terriers finished the season with the MJHL's best power-play percentage, converting on 28.3% of their chances. Dauphin, on the other hand, finished in the middle of the pack when it comes to overall special teams percentages (power-play and penalty kill), however, they were much better in those areas on the road. They finished the regular season with the third-best road power-play and the second-ranked penalty-killing unit away from home (still finished 9th in overall penalty kill percentage).

Defenceman Lane Taylor got hot to end the season and was named one of the MJHL Stars of the week for the final week of the regular season. In three games played he put up a goal and four assists for the dogs in three victories. Another award recipient for the final month of the season was goaltender Noah Giesbrecht who was awarded 'Goaltender of the Month' honours. Giesbrecht went 8-1 in February with a save percentage of 0.914 and a 1.96 GAA. On the other side, Dauphin's Grady Hobbs won the 'Player of the Month' award, averaging two points per game in February.

Forward Mack Belinski talks about how it feels to begin the postseason.

"Actually I haven't had any past experience in the playoffs," says Belinski. "This is my first year (in the MJHL playoffs) so I think the first game I'll be a little nervous but once the jitters are out I'll be good to go. It's very exciting, especially with the Centennial Cup coming up. We have a job to do here and we want to get it done."

The Terriers made a deep playoff run last year, winning the Turnbull Cup (MJHL Championship) and the ANAVET Cup (matchup between winner of MJHL and SJHL). They fell short though at the National Championship in Brooks, Alberta. Many players from that roster remain on the team and will be looking to make a similar run, hopefully leading to a Centennial Cup victory this time.

The Centennial Cup will also be hosting a volunteer registration prior to tonight's game. They are looking for roughly 100 volunteers to help out this May for Junior A hockey's National Championship tournament. They are still needing assistance in areas such as security, bar service, sales, transportation and client services. They will be registering new volunteers from 6:00 to 8:30 tonight at Stride Place.

The Terriers will make their playoff debut tonight at Stride Place with puck drop set for 7:30. The game will be broadcast on CFRY and Portageonline.com with the pregame show starting at 7:20 pm.

Tale of the Tape (regular-season totals)

Record
Terriers: 44-14-2
Kings: 31-24-5

Team Leaders
Terriers - Joey Moffatt (26G, 42A, 68Pts) (fifth in MJHL for total points)
Kings - Grady Hobbs (43G, 38A, 81PTS) (second in MJHL for total points)

Goaltenders
Terriers - Noah Giesbrecht 0.925 save percentage and a 1.86 GAA
Kings - Levi Mitchell 0.909 save percentage and a 3.08 GAA