MIKE HOFFMAN:

The playoff series with Providence is an experience I will never forget. Talk about being down and out to start! Down 2 games to zip to the best team in the league, we were on the bus ride back to Portland after losing 11-1 combined in the two games. I must say it was probably one of the biggest downer moments of my hockey career. The good news was that we had a week before the next game and the next three were going to be at home. It was a weird week at practice and especially in the locker room. Some guys can forget about a loss a few minutes after a game and some it takes a few days, so it was pretty quiet at times.

I don’t think there was a person in the hockey world expecting our comeback in the series. It was another total team effort by the boys. Mikkleson’s OT goal, Fergie’s OT goal, Aubs play in net … Then the big boys stepped up big time, Kinger, Ryan, Platt, Ebbett all had big games to finish it out.

I’ve seen a few things get thrown from the crowd but I’ve never seen the amount of junk that got thrown on the ice after the final game in Providence. No one really talked about it after because we were so excited to be going to the next round. But a few of the boys got full beers off their buckets along with a few hand-clapper things.

Off to Wilkes Barre now, actually sitting on a sleeper bus. I will say I was not made out for the sleeper bus. It’s made for someone at most I’d say 6-foot-3. Pretty much it is a center isle and on each side are bunks stacked three high going down the bus. Some of the sections fold down into tables, which works best for this guy. I am not one to sleep on a bus or plane ever really. Some guys can just put their head against the seat and are out for hours at a time. It’d be nice to have the internet on the bus, would make the 7 hours go by a lot faster. I can admit I’m addicted to the internet and texting. I’ve tried to cut back, but I figure it’s better being addicted to the internet than smoking or chewing.

So Game 1 is tomorrow, another huge series ahead for us, it’s going to definitely be a bit different playing a team that we only saw twice this season. There were some good series in the western division with Chicago and Rockford playing seven games and the Marlies came back from 3 games to 1 down to win three in a row including Game 7 last night. Should be fun seeing that Wilkes get a big crowd and J.S, Schneider and Dixon all played here. Speaking of crowds, wow I have to thank the fans of Portland again for being the 7th man in that last series. Probably the loudest I ever heard the place was Game 5. There were only about 2,500 fans there, but boy did they intimidate and get us going. I hope they can keep it going for next week’s games. As a team we all appreciate everything you do.

– hoff