"If you're going to go by what they did, they should be the favorites. They're the team that's hot, and they're playing good hockey. What was the score of (Monday night's) game against Portsmouth? 6-2? They're motoring on all cylinders, and we're going to be in for another dogfight."

That dogfight gets under way tomorrow night at 6 p.m. and the Clippers and Saints return to the ice for Game 2 on Saturday at 1. If a third and deciding game is needed, it will take place the following Thursday at a time to be announced.

The Clippers, who captured three straight Met B state titles from 1987-89, is making its first trip to the finals since 2001, while the Saints, who lost to NK last season in their first-ever trip to the finals -- the Division 3 finals -- are the first team to RIIL history to reach the finals in consecutive seasons despite moving to a higher division and looking to write a magical ending to their Cinderella story.

"I don't think we have anything to lose ... again," said SRA coach Mark Anderson. "We're the sixth seed coming into the finals and Cumberland's the (No.) 2 seed. That's a lot of pressure on them and I think we just added to their pressure by beating the (No.) 1 and 3 seed."

The Clippers and the Saints met only once during the regular season, way back on Nov. 30 in their season opener at Lynch Arena, and Cumberland skated away with a 4-3 overtime victory.

At that time, SRA fans were eagerly awaiting that weekend's Division 1 Super Bowl contest against Bishop Hendricken High -- a showdown the Saints won by an 8-6 score -- and paying very little attention to the start of the hockey season.

But a lot has changed since then and both sides have obviously picked up their games a couple of notches. The Clippers concluded their regular season with an impressive 11-game win streak that allowed them to finish a point out of first place with a 13-2-1 record, while the Saints played superb hockey in February to clinch a playoff spot and turned heads with their recent postseason play.

"There's a reason why they're here," said Andreozzi. "I haven't seen them since the first game of the season, but just watching them play (in the second game of their quarterfinal-round series) against North Kingstown, you can tell that they're playing very good hockey."

Both teams also dropped the opening contests of their respective semifinal-round series last Friday night, and while the Saints dominated play for most of the night in a tough-to-swallow 3-2 defeat to the Pats, the Clippers stunk out Adelard Arena with their most lopsided setback of the season, a 7-2 loss to two-time defending champion Smithfield High, which knocked off the Clippers in the semis in the last two seasons.

"It was demoralizing," admitted Andreozzi. "Any time you get beat as handily as Smithfield beat us. They beat us in every aspect of the game. They outhit us, they outskated us, and they outshot us. In every aspect, they brought it and we didn't.

"After that game, we just went back to basics. I sat the kids down and talked to them about getting back and doing what we're supposed to do on the ice. If we weren't going to do that, we were going to have the same result we had that night, and the kids responded."

The marquee name in this series is junior Andrew Bettencourt, SRA's high-scoring center who led the league with 31 goals and added six more in the playoffs. In the series against Portsmouth, the Patriots paid a great deal of attention to Bettencourt and were burned by the likes of Tom Votta, Tyler Malo, Ethan Cooper, Matt Tougas, and Drew Given, who began to feast on their defense.

"If you watch them play, you can see that there's more to the team than just Bettencourt, and if you make that mistake of thinking that it's just him, you're going to be in trouble," added Andreozzi. "If you key on him, there are 10 or 11 other guys who can burn you. Look at the guys who scored their goals. Votta, Tougas, Given. In the first North Kingstown game, Bettencourt didn't have a point."

Anderson thinks the series is going to come down to defense, and both sides have been marvelous in that department, starting between the pipes. Cumberland's Ed Norberg was among the division's leaders in goals-against-average (1.84), but SRA's Joe Mello has raised his game a few levels in the postseason and "this team owes the playoffs to Joe," Anderson said.

The defensemen are also solid, as the Clippers boast arguably one of the best in the division in Eric Meunier and the Saints feature hard-hitting senior Justin Rapp and sophomore Dom DiSano.

"I dont think the games in this series are going to be high scoring," said Anderson. "I think you will see 3-2 or 4-3 scores. I think both teams have great defenses, and I know our guys are comfortable with one another. Portsmouth had a ton of weapons, but we were able to shut them down."

While the Saints shut down the Patriots, Smithfield's defense did an admirable job in a losing cause containing Cumberland's high-scoring forwards Kyle McLaughlin, Matt Jones, and Nicholas Haase.

"We're struggling to put the puck in the net," said Andreozzi. "We only had eight goals in our three (playoff) games against Smithfield. St. Ray's scored six goals in one game."

"Both teams can score, but it's going to end up coming down to rebounds -- who can score on their second and third shots," said Anderson. "And I think the neutral zone's going to be a big part of the game for them and for us -- who can gain it and who can control it."

Both sides spent little time celebrating their Game 3 triumphs from Monday night. After a long day of classes, the Clippers went right back to work that afternoon at Adelard Arena, and the Saints did likewise in the cozy confines of Lynch Arena. They will practice again today before facing off in what promises to be an exciting series worth the price of admission.

"I think it's going to be a tough series," said Anderson. "but I know my kids are excited to be going back to Providence (College) and I can't wait to get there."