Redmen need to be road warriors

By RANDY PHILLIPS

The Gazette

For McGill, the road to an OUA East Division hockey title goes through North Bay.

It's where the No. 2-ranked Redmen will face the Nipissing University Lakers in the opening game of a best-of-three semifinal series tonight.

McGill, despite finishing higher in the standings than Nipissing, has to begin the series on the road because league rules permit lower-seeded teams the option of starting at home if travel exceeds more than 350 kilometres. North Bay is about 600 km northwest of Montreal.

"You've got to win on the road in the playoffs, no matter where it is, and that's what we're focusing on," Redmen head coach Kelly Nobes said minutes before the team boarded a bus yesterday for about an eight-hour trip.