Let the playoff season begin says this NMHA grad
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Daily Sports
Geoff Kinrade isn’t just happy to be back in the playoffs, he wants to win it all.
The Binghamton Senator rearguard is bubbling with confidence after the Ottawa farm team went on a late-season 6-3-0-1 run to secure seventh place in the Eastern Conference — fifth in the division — of the American Hockey.
The B-Sens now play the Manchester Monarchs in round one of the Calder Cup playoffs beginning Thursday at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
“It’s a different feeling,” Kinrade told The Nelson Daily prior to Saturday’s final regular season game against Adirondack.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a team that has this kind of potential,” adds the 25-year-old defenceman in his second year with Binghamton.
“My first year in Cowichan (Valley of the B.C. Hockey League) would have to be the last time I was on a team that has a really good chance to go all the way.”
Binghamton, which did not make the playoffs in 2010, was plodding along during the final weeks of the season sitting on the playoff bubble and looking like a team that wasn’t going to be playing any games after the early part of April.
But a late season run shot the B-Sens up the Conference ladder and into a playoff position.
“It’s a different team this year,” the 6-foot, 207 pound Kinrade confessed. “We’re a more motivated team with a great power play. We’re a hard working team that has a lot of younger players that have made real big improvements over the season.”
Slotted as the seventh seed in the conference doesn’t look good on paper. But Kinrade realizes this is the post season, when nothing really goes according to Hoyle.
“We only played Manchester twice, so we don’t know much about them, but obviously it’s playoffs and every team will be a challenge,” said Kinrade, finishing the season with six goals and 19 assists for 25 points good for 13th in team scoring.
Two of those goals came during the final weekend of the season.
Playing Friday against Rochester, Kinrade scored the first and third goals on the power play — the latter proving to be the winner — of the game to power the B-Sens to a 4-2 victory.
“It was a good feeling,” said Kinrade when asked about the two-goal performance that earned him the second star of the game.
“I got some more power play time since our two power play defencemen were called up (to Ottawa). So I used the opportunity and got a little lucky I guess . . . too long over due goals in my mind.”
NOTES: Geoff Kinrade is in his second one-year contract with the Ottawa Senators farm team after graduating from Michigan Tech in 2009. That same year the Nelson Minor Hockey grad was signed to a free agent contract by Tampa Bay of the NHL. The undrafted Kinrade, assigned to the AHL Norfolk Admirals, made his NHL debut on April 9, 2009 against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. . . .Manchester, 44-26-4-6, and Binghamton, 42-30-3-5, split the season series — each winning in the other team’s rink. The Monarchs won the first meeting 4-3 with Binghamton taking the back end contest 4-2. . . . First AHL Allstar team selection Corey Locke, who finished the season with 86 points including 21 goals, leads Binghamton offensively. Jim O’Brien led the team in goals with 24. . . .The first two games of the series are being played in Manchester with the next three set for Binghamton.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
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