The two-game home-and-away, aggregate-goal series will kick off Friday night in Rochester (7:35 pm) and will conclude Sunday night at Claude Robillard Sports Complex, in a match-up that will exceptionally begin at 7:00 pm and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports World.
"Since I’ve been with the Impact, we’ve been eliminated twice by Rochester in the playoffs. I can’t imagine going to the championship final without facing Rochester along the way," says defender Gabriel Gervais, who joined the Impact at the start of the 2002 season after two years with the Rhinos.
"The players are all excited to play against them and one thing’s for sure, these will be good, tight games. That’s what happened in the regular season, and it’s also true for the playoffs."
The Impact won two of its three games against the Rhinos this summer, including one in Rochester, allowing head coach Nick DeSantis’ squad to clinch the Eastern Conference regular-season title. The only loss came on August 27 at Frontier Field, in an eventful game where the Rhinos absolutely needed a win to make the playoffs.
But all that must now be erased, say Gervais and his teammates, as does the fact that the Impact has been eliminated in the playoffs each time the team has faced the Rhinos in the post-season — twice in the first round, twice in the second round.
"That’s all in the past, we have to look forward," said Gervais. "There’s a big rivalry between the two teams and we know it’ll be an intense series. On our side, we’ll need to keep our cool. We know what to expect and we’ll prepare accordingly."
The Impact will have to play Friday’s game without defender Nevio Pizzolitto, who will serve the second and last game of a two-game suspension, given out following the incidents that came during the halftime break at the August 27 match-up in Rochester.
Tickets for Sunday’s return match in Montreal are still on sale at the Impact office (tel. 514-328-3668) and through Réseau Admission (514-790-1245). Ticket prices are the same than during the regular season — $15 for reserved seating, as well as $10 (adults) and $5 (kids) for general admission.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
