It is quite a different Norwich Merchant team than they had a year ago. This year brought in a whole new coaching staff, a new goaltending and a few new faces to replace the departures of last year. The result surprisingly the team has managed to win more games than last year and if not for Simcoe playing our of their mind most of the year would have finished first again. The outlook for the playoffs may seem the same as last year, but their is a different feel about how the playoffs will turn out for this group. First off the Goaltending isn't as good as last year, Matt Coutts is not Cody Vinnai and will not be a MVP type goalie that won't steal games like Vinnai did, although this year if Coutts can't answer the bell they do have a strong backup goalie in Matt McGonigle who has played well this year in a limited role and in some fans eyes should be the one in goal once the playoffs start.
Up front the team has been more physical than last year but haven't scored nearly at the same level as last year but shouldn't make a difference come playoff time.
Defensively they have allowed fewer goals but are not as deep on defence as last year, Once Ben Pearson gets back from injury it should help out quite a bit.
I'm not going out on a limb to make a prognostication on the Merchants playoff run but I think it's a safe bet that the Niagara West will come down to Norwich and Simcoe and will probably take seven games before a winner is decided.
