The Milwaukee Wave was headed to California on Thursday to start the MASL postseason.
The team entered the weekend with as many as five games left or just one. Things happen quickly under the quirky new playoff format.
“It’s going to be interesting but it’s also going to be exciting,” veteran forward Ian Bennett said after the Wave won its regular-season finale to finish in fifth place at 14-8-2.
The MASL went to a single division for 2024-25 with eight of the 12 teams advancing to the playoffs. The quarterfinals are Friday and Saturday and the semifinals Sunday, all at the San Diego Sockers’ new Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
The seven-time champion Wave plays the final game on the second night of quarterfinals against the fourth-seeded Kansas City Comets (16-7-2) – the team that knocked it out of last year’s playoffs – at 9:30 p.m. Central time Saturday.
The Wave won two of the three games against the Comets this season, with both victories coming at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Milwaukee closed with three victories in its final four regular-season games, a span during which Bennett recorded two of his three 4-goal games.
Alex Sanchez finished the regular season as the Wave’s scoring leader with 27 goals and 21 assists for 48 points, ranking second in the league in assists and points.
Since the addition of all-time MASL scoring leader Franck Tayou in February, the Wave has had four of its five highest-scoring games of the season. Although Tayou did most of his damage in his first two games, he has totaled 13 goals and seven assists in six games.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Wave open MASL playoffs vs Kansas City Comets in California
