The Vipers players celebrate their 2006 play-off triumph

Newcastle Vipers coach Rob Wilson believes his side have every chance of winning the play-offs despite finishing seventh in this season's Elite League.

Vipers are underdogs after they were paired with league runners-up Coventry Blaze in the quarter-final but Wilson says stranger things have happened.

He told BBC Radio Newcastle: "People think this is a foregone conclusion.

"No-one expected us to win it a couple of years ago so I don't see why we can't upset the apple cart again."

Meanwhile Vipers former Blaze winger Jeff Hutchins is keen to dump his former club out early on in the series.

It would be extra sweet beating Coventry Former Coventry Blaze star Jeff Hutchins

Hutchins has happy memories of his time in the Midlands but holds no sentiment for them in the play-off series.

"I also had a year with Belfast and we knocked them out last year, so it would be nice to see Coventry go home," he said.

"I had some good times there (at Coventry) but it's all about Newcastle now and I'd like to move forward and it would be extra sweet beating them."

Vipers face Coventry in a weekend double header, with the first game at Coventry on Saturday, face off is at 1900 GMT.

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