Medium Rare vs Shooting Blancs
1st Period:
RARE (1-0) – Jeff Oberg (1) (assisted by Josh Wagner) (11:45)
2nd Period:
BLNC (1-1) – Andreas (1) (assisted by Steve Rys) (4:56)
BLNC (2-1) – McCauley (1) (assisted by Simon) (6:25)
RARE (2-2) – Jeff Oberg (2) (unassisted) (7:01)
3rd Period:
BLNC (3-2) – Simon (1) (unassisted) (8:32)
GAME NOTES: Oberg was a force in this one but his two snipes were not enough to stave off elimination for pink. Medium Rare actually had the better of play, despite a short bench, for most of the 1st period but eventually white’s superior depth won out, buoyed by stellar performances by Simon, McCauley, Andreas and all the way down the lineup. Blancs hold on with a tight 3-2 win to advance past the play-in game and face the 5th seeded Chili Peppers later in the evening.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3rd – McCauley (1G)
2nd – Simon (1G, 1A)
1st – Jeff Oberg (2G)
MelRose Place vs The Narwhals
1st Period:
MRP (1-0) – Mike Wright (1) (assisted by Wes) (4:10)
2nd Period:
NAR (1-1) – Jack (1) (unassisted) (1:48)
NAR (2-1) – Colleen (1) (assisted by Tom) (11:34)
GAME NOTES: The Narwhals came into this with some serious personnel losses. Kev missed the game, Annie was out for the season (but ably replaced by Colleen) and Corey was a last minute scratch so Jacob had to move from defense to goal. Fortunately Annie’s sister was in town and provided the team the ladies night presence it required and purple overcame an early deficit to score two goals in the 2nd en route to a 2-1 victory. Yellow almost tied the game with 7 seconds left as Pags batted it in the net but his stick was so clearly high that no one even bothered to argue the call, which was much appreciated…after this game I decided to go back through previous seasons drafts and it is official: no team with the #1 overall pick has ever won the championship. Not only that, they’ve never even made the championship game. They have, however, finished in last place three separate times, not counting this 7th place finish for MelRose. Kind of makes you wonder if winning the draft lottery is really cause for celebration at all.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3rd – Jack (1G)
2nd – Jacob (W, 1 GA)
1st – Colleen (GWG)
Shooting Blancs vs Chili Peppers
1st Period:
CHI (1-0) – Jess (1) (assisted by Campbell) (3:45)
CHI (2-0) – Tarnow (1) (assisted by Alex Rickard) (11:30)
3rd Period:
CHI (3-0) – Campbell (1) (assisted by Sam) (4:01)
BLNC (1-3) – Andreas (2) (assisted by Cara) (10:54)
BLNC (2-3) – Cara (1) (unassisted) (11:26)
GAME NOTES: The game looked like it had taken a crazy turn right off the opening faceoff when Simon buried a slapper from behind center. However the refs (correctly) ruled that the windup was high. From there, the Chili Peppers took an early lead and pretty much suffocated the Blancs offense throughout until white rallied late to score two goals in a 32 second span to cut the deficit to 3-2. Red called a timeout, regrouped and held on for the 3-2 win.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3rd – Cara (1G)
2nd – Tarnow (1G)
1st – Campbell (GWG, A)
The Narwhals vs Hungry Hippos 2.0
1st Period:
HIP (1-0) – Hicks (1) (assisted by Hogg) (1:15)
2nd Period:
NAR (1-1) – Jack (1) (assisted by Sam) (0:18)
HIP (2-1) – Adam Satok (1) (assisted by Tom White) (7:30)
3rd Period:
HIP (3-1) – Hogg (1) (PP) (assisted by Tom White) (0:20)
HIP (4-1) – Hicks (2) (unassisted) (6:31)
HIP (5-1) – Hicks (3) (EN) (assisted by Hogg) (12:28)
HIP (6-1) – Adam Satok (2) (EN) (unassisted) (12:50)
GAME NOTES: Hicks put up a hat trick in this one, screaming “I’m Him” after the 2nd one (amazing), Satok had two and Hogg added an electric mid-court slapper followed by the Russell Crowe from Gladiator “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED” bit followed by a facewash of his own still kind of bleeding face. Simply electric playoff action in the D5 arena…still have no idea how Satok’s last second dump into the corner bounced off the boards and somehow rolled into the net. Guess the over was just destined to hit in this one…for pretty much the duration of this game there was a deranged homeless man in the stands twirling sticks, screaming at people and at one point almost jumping onto the rink during play. Never a dull moment…the Hippos move on to the final four where they will face the Hooligans in a week one rematch. Early lines have them favored at -135 if Tom Fitzgerald plays and -175 if he doesn’t.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3rd – AJ (W, 1 GA)
2nd – Hogg (1G, 2A)
1st – Hicks (3G)
Chili Peppers vs Julie’s Football Club
1st Period:
JFC (1-0) – Amit (1) (assisted by Mitch) (0:05)
2nd Period:
CHI (1-1) – Ryann (1) (assisted by Sam) (6:23)
JFC (2-1) – Dave Liang (1) (assisted by Steve Rys) (5:34)
JFC (3-1) – Joe Moskowitz (1) (assisted by Dave Liang) (6:29)
JFC (4-1) – Malik (1) (assisted by Danny Swersky) (7:14)
CHI (2-4) – Tarnow (1) (assisted by Nate) (9:33)
3rd Period:
JFC (5-2) – Dave Liang (2) (assisted by Tash) (5:22)
GAME NOTES: For the 2nd game in a row the Chili Peppers’ opponent won the opening faceoff and scored immediately from behind center. Unlike in the previous game, however, this one counted even as red’s bench swore the ball did not go in. Ultimately the story of the game was orange scoring three goals in a 1:40 span that felt like it was much less than that, breaking the game wide open. As the best defensive team in the league this season you just kind of felt that lead was going to be enough and it was as the Football Club held on to win 5-2…this game also featured the earliest goalie pull in league history as red pulled Cam with 4:00 left to go in the game. Down 3 goals, it was certainly the right move even if it didn’t lead to any goals this time around as research generally shows we are not pulling goalies nearly early enough…orange will move on to face blue in the opening game of Championship Week. The teams split the season series 1-1, with blue winning 4-1 in week 7 before orange took home a 5-0 decision in week 10.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3rd – Joe Moskowitz (GWG)
2nd – Zisser (2 GA)
1st – Dave Liang (2G, 1A)