Blast back in playoffs, hoping for fourth title

By Kent Baker | special to the sun
April 10, 2008

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The Blast enters familiar territory tonight: the Major Indoor Soccer League playoffs.

The opening game against the New Jersey Ironmen at 1st Mariner Arena marks the first step in the Blast's quest to capture its fourth league championship in six seasons and is a validation of its determination to return after missing postseason play by one game a year ago.

An expansion franchise, No. 6 seed New Jersey was 14-16 in its first venture into the league while the Blast went 19-11 to capture the No. 3 seed.

This is a two-game series, with the rematch set for Saturday night at the Prudential Center, a new arena in Newark, N.J., also the home of the NHL's New Jersey Devils.

If the Blast survives, the next round will pit the team against a long-time rival, the second-seeded Milwaukee Wave, with the opener Wednesday in Baltimore and Game 2 on April 20 in Wisconsin.

The Blast is stressing the idea that the five-game disparity between its record and New Jersey's means nothing at this point.

"All the teams' records are the same right now: 0-0," Blast coach Danny Kelly said. "Just because we're 19-11 and they're 14-16 doesn't mean we automatically win. We can't go in thinking that way. We'd better be ready."

Denison Cabral, the Blast's leading scorer, said: "There are no favorites when it comes to the playoffs. Everybody is a good matchup."

Tonight's game

Matchup // New Jersey Ironmen at Blast

Site // 1st Mariner Arena

Time // 7:05

Radio // 680 AM

Outlook // The third-seeded Blast launches the MISL playoffs at home against sixth-seeded New Jersey, a team it defeated a week ago, 14-6, in Newark. The second game of the series will be played Saturday in New Jersey, with a golden-goal tiebreaker (first score wins in a "mini match" ) necessary if they split the two games. The Blast topped the Ironmen, an expansion franchise, in three of four meetings this season. Dan Antoniuk of the Ironmen has 89 points, fourth in the league and one point ahead of the Blast's Denison Cabral, who is fifth. Cabral's teammate, Machel Millwood, is sixth with 83.

- KENT BAKER

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Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

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