"The weather starts to get better, the snow starts to melt, and you know playoffs are right around the corner. Looking forward to it and just going to battle with these guys."
Carlin Dezainde and the Swift Current Broncos are a day away from dropping the puck on the WHL playoffs.
The Broncos face the top seeded Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round.
"They have a good team, a real skilled team, they've got a lot of depth," Dezainde said. "We've got that too here. Besides looking at the standings we're a better team than what we seeded. It's time for us to prove that. We've got to play hard."
The Tigers finished 12 wins and 25 points ahead of Swift Current in the standings. The teams also split a four game season series.
"We played a lot of big games this year that we played really well in," Dezainde said. "We can compete with them. They're fast, they're good off the rush, and they have a lot of scoring on that team. It's going to be real important for us to defend.
"Med Hat's probably looking at us like it's going to be easy. We have to come out there and show them that it's not going to be."
Dezainde has played 29 playoff games over three previous WHL post-season runs. He looks forward to potentially matching up with star NHL prospect Gavin McKenna, who put up 129 points in 56 regular season games.
"With their scoring and how elusive that kid is... but he has no slouch linemates either with (Hunter) St. Martin and (Oasiz) Wiesblatt," Dezainde said. "Two goal scorers and Wiesblatt put up 100 points. He's an emotional player and I think that's something I can get into with him. I'm the same way so I'm looking forward to that and that match-up."
Dezainde sees preparation and pace as keys for when the Broncos have shown they can compete with the best teams in the league.
"We're not going to get into a track meet with a team like Medicine Hat," the veteran forward noted. "We're at our best when we're moving pucks quick, we're countering quick, getting up the ice and getting back quick, so I think our pace is going to be the most important thing."
The series starts Friday and Saturday in Medicine Hat. You can listen to both games with Redhead Equipment Case IH Broncos Hockey on Country 94.1 FM.
Dezaidne says they're better than their place in the standings would indicate, and this is their opportunity to prove it.
Games 1 and 2 are tomorrow and Saturday in Medicine Hat.