Fresno Monsters vs. Ventura Vikings 2026 USPHL Premier Playoffs Preview
- Lyanna Yeow
- Mar 3
- 2 min read
The 2026 Premier Playoffs will feature with a round one series between the Fresno Monsters and Ventura Vikings. Read more about what you need to know for the upcoming series!
When:
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM PST
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 5:00 PM PST
Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 PM PST (if necessary)
Where:
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM PST
Gateway Ice Center
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 5:00 PM PST
Gateway Ice Center
Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 PM PST (if necessary)
Gateway Ice Center
Watch:
Click the link below to find and stream the games!
The Ventura Vikings will travel to the Gateway Ice Center where they will face the Fresno Monsters in the 2026 Premier Playoffs. This series will start on Thursday, March 5, 2026 and is scheduled to end after their game on Sunday, March 8, 2026 if necessary.
The Ventura Vikings ended the regular season in 4th place with 55 points secured in the Pacific division and had a season record of 26-17-2-1. The team’s points, goals, and assists leader was #6 Ethan Yang (30G, 50A) who had 80 points recorded by the end of the regular season.
The Fresno Monsters ended the regular season in 1st place with 75 points in the Pacific division and had a season record of 37-8-1-0. The team’s points leader was #20 Vertti Sakko (34G, 49A) who had 83 points recorded by the end of the regular season. #96 William Lindgren (37G) led the team with the most goals scored and #21 Brian Erte (49A) led the team with the most assists recorded by the end of the regular season.
Going into this matchup, the Ventura Vikings ended the regular season with a 21.0% powerplay success rate which is slightly lower compared to the Fresno Monsters’ 24.1% powerplay success rate. The Fresno Monsters ended the regular season with an 88.0% penalty kill success rate which is slightly higher than the Ventura Vikings’ 85.0% penalty kill success rate. During their previous six games that they played against one another during the regular season, the Fresno Monsters remained undefeated and ultimately swept the Ventura Vikings, 6-0. When looking at the overall stats from their previous matchups, it is evident that the Fresno Monsters had the advantage when playing against the Ventura Vikings as they outscored (40 G vs 22 G), outshot (308 SOG vs. 222 SOG), and had a strong special teams (20.7 PP% vs. 8.00 PP% and 92.0 PK% vs. 79.3 PK%) compared to the Ventura Vikings.
We can expect the Fresno Monsters to enter this series with the utmost confidence from their previous successes against the Ventura Vikings. However, we can also expect the Ventura Vikings to fight tooth and nail in order to gain their first win against the Fresno Monsters and to move onto the next round in the playoffs.
Come back to read about what went down during this series in the upcoming 2026 Premier Playoffs Game Recap articles!
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