newsminer.com

The North American Hockey League playoffs are a week away and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs still don’t know who they’ll be playing in the first round, but coach Rob Proffitt says the playoffs actually begin tonight.

“Starting on Wednesday in practice, we’re doing everything just as if this weekend is a playoff series,” Proffitt said earlier this week as the Ice Dogs prepared to host the Alaska Avalanche in the final games of the regular season at 7:30 tonight and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

“We’re going to try and create the same matchups that we would use in the playoffs — like our checking line against their scoring line — and things like that,” Proffitt said. “We’re going to play the same style that we need to in order to make a strong run in the playoffs.”

The Ice Dogs can still finish anywhere from first to third in the NAHL South Division heading into the final weekend of the season.

The Topeka RoadRunners (37-11-8) lead the South Division with 82 points, while the Ice Dogs (37-15-4) and Wichita Falls (38-17-2) are tied for second with 78 points. Fairbanks and Topeka have two games remaining while Wichita Falls has one.

While the Ice Dogs are hosting the Avalanche, Topeka plays at fourth-place Texas (20-32-5) tonight and at Wichita Falls Saturday night.

If Fairbanks wins both games and Topeka loses twice the Ice Dogs would finish in first place by virtue of the league’s first tie-breaker (most wins). If Topeka gets one point in either game, the RoadRunners will win the title.

No matter who the Ice Dogs play in the opening round, the format for the best-of-five series will have the Ice Dogs playing home games on April 4-5 at the Big Dipper. The final three games, if necessary, will be played at the opponent’s rink.

“We’ve got to start focusing on the series right now,” Proffitt said. “We can’t just think that we can flip on that light switch once the playoffs start.”

The Avalanche would like nothing better than to spoil the Ice Dogs party this weekend and Proffitt and his players are well aware of that.

“They’re coming in here to beat us, just like Kenai came in here last weekend,” Proffitt said. “They’re not just going to lay down and we’ll need to be ready to play.”

Weekend activities

The Ice Dogs have a weekend full of activities planned that ranges from between-period jersey auctions to the team’s annual spaghetti feed, auction and raffle on Sunday afternoon at the Elks Lodge.

Six more players’ home jerseys will be auctioned off between periods each night. The Ice Dogs also plan to honor their host families prior to Saturday night’s game.

Playoff tickets and 2008-09 season tickets also will be on sale this weekend. The spaghetti feed, raffle and auction takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Elks Lodge. Tickets for the raffle are $100 apiece. Only 300 tickets are sold and $14,500 in prize money will be awarded.