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The teams will meet in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal beginning Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena, the winner not only moving on to the conference final but also gaining a berth in the CIS tournament. Game 2 is Saturday and three, if necessary, is Sunday night.

The Cougars’ game plan will no doubt hinge on jumping on the Dinos early, since the former are in playoff mode — having won their series last weekend against Saskatchewan — and the latter haven’t played in four weeks.

“There’s two ways to look at the opening-round series,” suggested Gilling. “One, to get a bye in it it’s one less series you have to win to advance. But the plus side is if you do get through that series, you’re battle-tested. I thought halfway through that series last weekend we found our legs and got it going. Just getting over that hurdle creates that sense of belief and confidence in your team. Now it seems real.”

“They’ve played and we haven’t,” Howell stated. “We had a handful of guys at the FISU Games but … (practices) have been real hard, try to be physical and try to mimic a game as much as you can. It’s not always easy to do. How we start the game on Friday is going to be real important, to be physical, be fast and be simple. They do have three games under their belt and they have some confidence.”

During the regular season, ninth-ranked Mount Royal posted a 3-1 record over the fourth-ranked Dinos, including a 2-0 blanking at the Scotiabank Saddledome.