It's Portage and Selkirk in the MJHL's first round.The playoffs are officially here and the Portage Terriers are ready to kick-start another long postseason run.

The Dogs start the best-of-seven Addison Division semi-finals on home ice as they welcome the Selkirk Steelers to the PCU Centre this evening. The Terriers finished first in the division with a record of 42-15-5 while Selkirk took fourth place, finishing 37-23-2. The two clubs met up eight times during the regular season with Portage winning six and losing twice in a shootout. Terriers Head Coach and General Manager Blake Spiller says they're expecting a tough challenge.

"They're definitely an explosive team," says Spiller. "They're definitely a dangerous club and we're expecting a tough series here."

The Terriers are hopeful the recent time off has helped some of their injury woes. Michael Hay, Brendon Fornwald and Andrew Wiebe all missed games late in the season due to injury and Spiller says it's a wait and see situation.

"We're kinda day-to-day on some guys here," says Spiller. "Right now we'll kinda have to take that day by day."

The Terriers have plenty of players back from last year's Anavet Cup championship team, players that know what it takes to win. One of those returning players is forward Mike Gemmill. The Stonewall native put up 62 points this season, second on the team in scoring. He says they're looking to come out strong and show what kind of team they are.

"We didn't finish off the season the way we really wanted to," says Gemmill. "We got a really good team, lots of depth. We just gotta buckle down and get ready to play playoff hockey."

The Terriers and Steelers drop the puck on game one tonight at the PCU Centre at 7:30 pm.