Foxboro, MA - The South Shore Kings road back to the Dineen Cup will start Wednesday, March 27th at 4:30 pm as the #2 seed South Shore Kings host the #3 seed Utica Jr. Comets in a 3-game series at Foxboro Sports Center.

The South Shore Kings are coming into the playoffs with a 36-12-4 record, finishing in 2nd place in the New England division with 76 points. Utica comes in as the 3 seed going 30-17-5 in the regular season with 65 points.

In the regular season, the two teams went head to head 8 times with the Kings having a 5-2-1 record, scoring 35 goals and allowing 23.

South Shore finished the season with four 50-point scores in Kotaro Murase (22-33-55), Nate Stachowiak (23-30-53), Justin Ryan (22-32-53), and Jake Kavanagh (24-26-50). The Jr. Comets were led by Robert Gatewood with 58 points along with 7 players above 30 points. 

The King's net is protected by SUNY Oswego commit, Ryan Keyes who led the NCDC season with 31 wins between the pipes. Keyes had a 2.06 GAA allowing 84 goals on 1,135 shots, good for 2nd in the league. On the other end of the ice, Waylon Esche had a 19-14 record with a 2.83 GAA. 

The Kings scored 50 powerplay goals on 189 attempts (26.5%), good for 2nd overall in the NCDC. Utica comes in with the top penalty kill in the league (86.4%). 

Round 1 Game Schedule:

Game 1: Puck drop @ 4:30 PM at Foxboro Sports Center

Game 2: Puck drop @ 4:30 PM at Foxboro Sports Center

*Game 3: Puck drop @ 7:00 PM at Foxboro Sports Center

(*Game 3 if necessary)