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Thursday, April 17, 2003

By Pohla Smith, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

They know they haven't seen anything yet. As brutally hard-hitting as the first two playoff series have been, the Forge players expect even more banging in their North American Hockey League championship series with the Texas Tornado.

The best-of-five Junior-A series begins tonight at the Island Sports Center on Neville Island. As regular-season champion, the Forge has home-ice advantage and will be the host to Game 2 tomorrow and Game 3 Saturday. If necessary, Games 4 and 5 would be in Dallas next weekend.

"Texas is probably the roughest team in the league. They pretty much win by intimidation," said Forge defenseman Dylan Reese, who scored the semifinal-clinching goal against the Danville Wings in triple overtime Saturday.

The Tornado, which defeated last season's playoff champion Compuware in its semifinal, is the only team in the league that had a winning record (3-1) against the Forge in the regular season.

The latter doesn't concern the Forge as much as the former.

"We played them early. The team has changed a lot since then," Reese said.

"We know we're the best team in the league. Even though we have a losing record [against Texas], we know we can beat them and I don't think we're thinking about that," forward Mike Handza said.

But the Forge, the least penalized team in the NAHL this season, is thinking about the Tornado's style of play.

"They have some big guys. Pretty much their whole game plan is to try to intimidate a team with hitting and aggressiveness," Handza said.

"We'll just stick to our game plan," Reese said. "When they try to start fights after the whistle, we've got to just skate away."

Sometimes that's easier said than done. In their semifinal series with Danville, the Forge players got into several fights.

Texas' two big defensive stars are Dinos Stamoulis and Matt Nickerson.

"[They] play more than half the game," Reese said. "So those are the two we're going to try to wear down and try to get off their game. If we do ... we should have a good chance of winning."

"The two players made the first- and second-team all-star teams for the North American Hockey League," interim coach Jay Varady said. "They're both unbelievable. Probably both of them are draft picks in the NHL next year. They're blue-chip players."

Matchup: Forge (43-9-4) vs. Texas Tornado (41-13-2), 7 :30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, Island Sports Center on Neville Island, best-of-five North American Hockey League Championship Series.

Internet: www.pittsburghforge.com and www.redzonemedia.com.

Forge: NAHL regular season champion defeated the Capital Centre Pride and Danville Wings in the first two rounds of the playoffs, two games to none. ... Went 1-3-0 against Texas in the regular season. ... Backup G Matt McBride blanked the Tornado, 3-0, Sept. 20 at the Island Sports Center. ... Texas won the other three games, 4-3, 4-1, and 3-1. ... Defeated Texas, two games to one on the road, in the NAHL semifinals last season. ... Have a 10-game winning streak. ... Seven players -- D Dylan Reese, LW Sean Berkstresser, C Mike Handza, C Chris Lawrence, RW Andy Brandt, D Brandon Warner and D Denis Kirstein -- also played in the NAHL championship series last season when the Forge lost to Detroit. ... The series winner will earn a berth in the USA Hockey Junior-A National Championships May 2-3 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Texas Tornado: Qualified for the playoffs as the champion of the NAHL's Western Division. ... Defeated the Springfield Junior Blues at home and Detroit Compuware on the road in the first two rounds of the playoffs. ... Only team to post a winning record against the Forge this season. ... F Bill McCreary led the team in scoring this season with 60 points (27 goals, 33 assists), and has been the top scorer in the playoffs with seven points (4 goals, 3 assists). ... G Will be host to Game 4 at 7:30 p.m. April 25 and Game 5 at 7 p.m. April 26, if necessary, in North Richland Hills, Texas.

Hidden stat: Texas was the most penalized team in the NAHL this season, and the Forge was the least penalized.