The Neepawa Natives' 9-1 victory on Tuesday night, allowed the club to take three of four games against the Addison Division leading Winnipeg Saints.

 

The Saints, who are second overall in The MJHL, are a powerhouse in the league, but were unable to get traction against The Natives this season.

 

Natives' coach Bryant Perrier says that match ups at the junior a level are impossible to predict and often as difficult to explain.

 

"I have learned over the years to treat each opponent on an individual basis based totally on how your team matches up with them," Perrier said.

 

"We don't worry about where our opponents are in the standings. We just play them to the best of our abilities."

 

Even with such a philosophy, Perrier does admit that his team's success against the Saints was not taken for granted.

 

"When we looked at our final stretch of games, we were certainly not expecting an easy time in our games against them."

 

Even though The Natives won by an eight goal margin Tuesday night, Perrier said the game was far from easy.

 

"We worked and we executed and we really played well," he said. "It was not an easy game. We played at a very high level. They are a talented group."

 

The Saints and Natives met four times in the final two months of the season, after not seeing each other in the first three months of the schedule.

 

Coach Perrier says that the schedule was favorable in his club's meetings with the Saints, due to the chronology of the games.

 

"We are clearly a much better team than we were early in the year," he said. "We got to play them when we were ramping up our play. It worked out fine for us."

 

And, while The Natives would have been well suited to play the Saints in a first round playoff match-up in a cross over series, Coach Perrier says he wouldn't want it any other way - even if his club is now going to face the first place Dauphin Kings.

 

"We are trying to solidify a culture of excellence and achievement," Perrier said. "We really wanted to get as many wins as we could throughout the year, and we really wanted to take that step of making the Sher-Wood Division playoffs."

 

"We are embracing our opportunity to play Dauphin. This is the one series in Canada that everyone will be watching to see how the underdog can do." he said. "We have zero pressure.  But, we also have a chance to do something of a magnitude so big, that our players may never be in this position again."

 

The coach said that well wishes have already begun.

 

"We are getting emails and calls from people we don't even know telling us they are pulling for us. It is incredible."

 

When asked how he feels about the underdog status, he said, "I love it. It is a great place to be. We have zero pressure. We have everything to gain. We win that first game at some point and the whole hockey world is talking about our players. It is perfect."

 

After a solid January and a successful  February, and with the playoffs on the horizon, Perrier says the club is sold out to achieve more success in the remaining regular season games.

 

"We have a chance to have one of the best win totals in club history, and we also have a chance to finish 10 games over .500." Perrier said. "That would be a big improvement from last season (5 games under .500)."

 

If the club is able to win their final two games, the club's win total will be one of the best in its 21 year history.

 

"34 wins would be the fifth highest total in club history," he said.

 

Perrier is stressing these goals, because he wants the players to finish the season with a sense of purpose.

 

He also believes in the importance of not looking ahead, out of respect for the integrity of competition and the league.

 

"We are going to be the best we can be for the fans and for our players," he said. "We want to finish this season off with a commitment to being our best."

 

"We want our players to approach the final games with integrity and a passion to win."

 

"Finish the job before starting another."