LUCAN – The Lucan Ilderton Jets hosted the Milverton Four-Wheel Drive Saturday night and lost 5-1 in their final game of the regular season.
The game was meaningless for the Jets, who had secured fourth place in the WOAA South Division and home ice advantage in the first round of the Senior A hockey playoffs.
Milverton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and led 4-0 after the second. The teams traded goals in the second period, with Jets captain Jason Wilson scoring the lone Lucan Ilderton tally.
“The game meant more to Milverton than it really did to us,” said Jets general manager Rob Andrews in an interview.
“In saying that we ... we’ve got to start to get on some type of roll (going into the playoffs). But their goaltender played really well.”
Andrews added that the playoffs are a whole new season, saying hopefully his players will start to refocus and get back on track.
The Jets will face the Clinton Radars in the first round, a team that beat them two out of three times during the regular season.

The series will be a best-of-five, with Game 1 set for Saturday in Lucan and Game 2  Sunday in Clinton.
Clinton’s ice surface is relatively small and has given the Jets – a small, speedy team – trouble this season.
“(The) Clinton arena has probably been one of the toughest arenas for us to play in,” Andrews said. “It’s such a small arena, and they play it very well. They know the bounces, they have a bigger core of guys on defence that know how to play it there.”
The Jets are relatively healthy heading into the playoffs, their lone major injury being suffered by defenceman Matt Macfarlane.
Andrews noted the team may be missing a few players due to work commitments, but said that has been an issue all year.
“We’re expecting a really good series with Clinton,” Andrews said. “(We) hope to get off to a good start with them Saturday night on our home ice. I really hope home ice will be an advantage to us, but in saying that they’ve got some good players.”
Andrews noted Clinton’s Luke Vick is one of the league’s top scorers this season, and said the Jets will have to be careful with him.
“He can be a very explosive player,” Andrews added. “He’s not very big, but he can score at will, it seems sometimes.
“So I think we’re going to have to concentrate on shutting him down and if we do that,  we match up with them really well. We should be okay.”
The first game of the series is set for an 8:30 p.m. start at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre.