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Home  Articles 99/00 Season Drillers take low road into playoffs
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Drillers take low road into playoffs |
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Written by Gerry Prince
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Sunday, 26 March 2000 |
The drama was supposed to be over before the opening kickoff.
In what has become almost standard operating procedure, the Edmonton Drillers clinched a playoff spot without setting foot on the turf, thanks to Kansas City's win over Detroit Saturday.
That almost rendered moot yesterday's 13-8 loss to the St. Louis Ambush in front of an announced crowd of 6,813 at Skyreach Centre.
But this is the playoff chase, and these are the never-take-the-easy-route Drillers.
The setback dropped the Drill's record to 21-22, meaning the side needs a win against Cleveland in Friday's final regular-season tilt to finish at .500.
More importantly, the loss could impact who the Drillers face in the opening round of the NPSL playoffs, but that didn't seem to faze head coach Ross Ongaro.
"We lost the game. All the credit to St. Louis, they beat us," Ongaro said. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They scored on their chances and we didn't.
"Two months ago we said we have to make the playoffs, No. 1. No. 2, we needed to be healthy. When the playoffs start, that's when the games start again.
"We accomplished getting into the playoffs by winning three games on the last road trip and winning against St. Louis Friday night. We're getting guys back and the we'll see what happens in the playoffs."
With the K.C. Attack nailing down the Midwest Division crown and Detroit and Wichita duking it out for the final National Conference playoff spot, who the Drillers face when they kick off the best-of-three National Conference semifinal at Skyreach April 4 is up in the air.
Thanks to a gritty effort by St. Louis, the Drill could go into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, meaning they would draw Milwaukee. Winding up No. 3 would mean a date with K.C.
Theoretically, Wichita could finish ahead of the Drill, and it's still possible for Detroit and Edmonton to finish with identical records. Based on head-to-head meetings, the Drill would win the tie-breaker with the Rockers.
Were Wichita to finish in a dead heat with Edmonton record-wise, the Drill would prevail based on the head-to-head tiebreaker and be seeded No. 3.
That said, a win over Cleveland would negate all of the above and ensure the Drill the No. 3 seed.
Bottom line, facing an Ambush club that was 9-32 before yesterday's matinee, the Drill whiffed on another golden opportunity to control their own destiny.
"We're in the playoffs and we can look at this game as one we're going to take to heart," offered captain Kevin Holness. "We knew we should have won this game and we didn't want to let it go.
"The playoffs are the thing we have to stay focused on. We have five days until the next game. We're going to try and forget about this loss because it's really frustrating."
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