Mavericks goalie looks forward to challenge of playoff chase

Pressure?

What pressure?

Oh, just the pressure of knowing that your season will come to an end next week unless your team continues to play the kind of hockey that has put it in a position to reach the postseason as a first-year squad.

“I don’t see it as pressure,” Missouri Mavericks goaltender Charlie Effinger said when asked about the final two weeks of a whirlwind inaugural campaign that has seen a love affair develop between a team and its unwavering fans.

“We’re playing hockey. We’re a bunch of young guys having the time of our lives. Now, some of the guys might see it as pressure, and I’m sure Scott (Hillman, coach) is facing some pressure because he wants so badly to give our fans a playoff team – but this is why you play the sport.

“This is what you dream about when you’re a little kid and you’re playing hockey in the driveway against your brothers. It’s going to be tough to make the playoffs, but I believe we can do it. We’ve shown that by the way we’ve won some big games the past few weeks.”

Now that the Mavericks’ first Central Hockey League season has about wrapped up, I’ve finally gotten the handle on the scoring system it uses. It’s not like baseball or football or basketball.

It’s like, well, hockey.

The Mavericks are 29-25-5. In this league, you get two points for a win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.

Tulsa plays this morning, but heading into today’s action, the Oilers are 27-25-6 and trail the Mavs by three points. Mississippi is 29-23-7 and leads the Mavericks by three points.

Mississippi is in fourth place in the Northern Conference, the Mavericks are in fifth and Tulsa is in sixth. Only the top five teams from each conference advance to the postseason, and there is nothing Hillman would like any more than finishing in fourth place because that assures his squad of two home games in the first round of the playoffs.

“With our fans, having two games at home would be huge,” Hillman said. “I’m greedy, I’d like to get into fourth place, but we’ll just see what happens. If we take care of business – with our 3-point lead – we’re not going to have to depend on anyone else to help us get into the playoffs.”

The opening round of the playoffs features a best-of-three series. After that, it expands to a best-of-seven series.

The Mavericks play host to Odessa in the final two home games of the year on Friday and Saturday. They play at last-place Wichita on Sunday then wrap up the season on the road at Allen on Wednesday and at Bossier-Shreveport on Friday.

“I can’t imagine what this weekend is going to be like at the Events Center,” said Effinger, who requested a trade to the Mavericks after watching the sold-out crowd support the hometown team when Allen visited Independence earlier in the season. “It’s going to be so cool, so much fun. Odessa is a great team, but we have a week to get ready for them and believe me, we will be ready.”

So will we, Charlie – so will we.