Mountain Championship Preview

The Utah Outliers will play the Ogden Mustangs for the Mountain Division Championship. This will be the Outliers' fourth consecutive year playing for the Championship and an opportunity for a 4-peat. 

The two teams will play a best-of-five series with the winner advancing to play out east for the NCDC Dineen Cup title. 

The Outliers held the advantage over the Mustangs during the regular season compiling a 7-4  record and winning 5 out of their last 6 meetings. 

Utah enters the playoff series with a regular season record of 36-13-2 which earned them 76 points. The team finished the season scoring 189 goals and allowing 139 against. Ogden enters the series with a regular season record of 37-12-3 and 77 points. The team scored 195 goals and allowed 125.

The Mustangs enter the series with (890) penalty minutes on the season while the Outliers are the second least penalized team with (802) penalty minutes. 

Special teams typically prove to be a factor in most playoff series and this should be no different when these two teams hit the ice. Ogden's powerplay during the regular season was 22.8%  and its penalty kill finished at 86.0%. The Outliers ended the regular season with a powerplay running at 17.8% and its penalty kill at 82.1%. 

Offensively, Ogden is led by three players with over 40 points. The team is led by forward Parker Osborn (66 pts), forward Dimitri Voyatzis (54 pts), and forward Brody Simko (43 pts.). Defenseman, Teddy Hember leads the backend with (38 pts.).  

In net, the Mustangs are backstopped by their number one goalie, Nikita Volsky who has a 2.14 GAA and a .934 SV%. 

Utah's offense is comprised of three players with over 40 points and two of them above 50 points. The team is led by Garrett Joss (61 pts), Makar Klochkov (53 pts), and Daniil Chuparnov (44 pts). The club is also led by a group of talented defensemen with five of them reaching double digits in points. 

Between the pipes, the Outliers are well protected with Phil Rondina, Sam Straff, and Dryden DeMelo. Rondina enters the playoffs with the most NCDC playing experience and has compiled a record of 21-7-1, a GAA of 2.32, and a .926 SV%.

Assistant Coach, Richard Bohan is excited about the Mountain Championship series and expects the games to be intense and entertaining. 

"We're excited at the chance to play for another Mountain Championship. We have had a lot of hard fought games with Ogden and I expect this series will not disappoint. Our players are ready for the challenge and I expect them to rise up in the moment and play to their capabilities." - Richard Bohan 

Head Coach, Paul Taylor is also eager for the Championship series to begin. 

"I think we have played liked a playoff team for some time. Our group is hungry and we understand the commitment needed to be successful. Everyone is ready to go and feeling good and now its time for us to go out and execute the way we can."  - Paul Taylor

The best-of-five series series schedule: 

Game 1 (Fri, April 12): Utah at Ogden, 7:15 pm, Ice Sheet 

Game 2 (Sat, April 13): Utah at Ogden, 7:15 pm, Ice Sheet 

Game 3 (Tue, April 16): Ogden at Utah, 7:45 pm, Acord Ice Center 

Game 4 (Fri, April 19): Ogden at Utah, 7:00 pm, Acord Ice Center 

Game 5 (Sun, April 21): Utah at Ogden, 1:30 pm, Ice Sheet  

Note* - Games 4 & 5 are only if needed.

All playoff games will be live broadcast on FloHockey.tv