And Then there Were Two - Semi Final Recap

So with out further ado, lets see which too teams will face off in the finals.

Up first was the game between the Sabres and the Chill. The Sabres coming of a stunning upset last week over the top seeded Slayers, while the Chill took care of the Lynx in a nail biting shoot out that went 9 rounds.

The first period started with a coupe of fast ones. I believe the first shot for each team went in. So ties 1-1 after 30 seconds.

From there it was all Chill. Scott Cross scored two goals on feeds from Trevor McGuigan then McGuigan got a goal off a feed from Layers. Dan Lopez scored a goal off a feed from layers and then Layers screw off a feed from Lopez.. The Sabres countered the Gelinas banged home a rebound f Kyle Bradbury's and this one was 6-2 after the first.

The Chill came out o a tear grabbing the f5 of the next 6 goals in the second, but then the back end got pretty darn lazy, watching the Sabres mount a mini come back as they beat the Chill to every ball for the last bit of the period and ended up get rewarded three times for their efforts. This one was still Chill in a commanding lead by a score of 13-6

The third saw a close battle as the Chill grabbed 4 more the the Sabres added two, but the Chill were a scoring machine that made good on some pretty good scoring chances. Sabres goalie Craig Burgoyne didn't give up any easy ones as they were all pretty good chances that found the back of the net. When it was all said an done Chill move on with a 16-8 win.

Worth while to note that the chill were lead by Eye Layers, who had 3 goals and 5 helpers as well as Trevor McGuigan who grabbed a hat trick of his own and 4 helpers. The Sabres bright spot was Mike Gelinas who recorded his first ever 4 goals game and he added an assist for a 5 point night.

The second semi saw the Slayers visiting the home team Hackers. This one was billed as a pretty close battle considering that both teams finished with the same number of points during the regular season.

Like the first semi game, this one started with each tea trading a goal early, but the Slayers started to pull away with some fast legs an quick hands as they took the next three goals and after the first, thats to Strum and Reed with a pair each, the Slayers were up 4-1 after the first.

the second saw the Slayers continue to run the court and as a result, they found the back of the net 3 more times. Reed, Schrader and Strum adding to the teams totals. and after two, the Slayers had a commanding 7-1 lead. Up to this point, the Slayers had been able to stifle the hackers attacks keeping their shots to the outside. Bob Strum made one wicked save on a rebut, but everything else was pretty harmless.

But knowing the Hackers as we do, and especially Dave Cooper, this game was far from over.  

The third period around and the Slayers started it when Schrader scored his second of the game off a pass from Matt Strum to send a message to the Hackers that the guys were for real. The Hackers mounted an unbelievable comeback against the Slayers in the later part of the regular season, but tonight was not going to follow in the footsteps. The Slayers were blocking shots and really had control of this game from start to finish. Strum faced 40 shots, but not many real good scoring chances, and the Slayers made the Hackers pay for any mistakes they made. The Slayers dominated the floor and were rewarded with an 8-3 victory as a result.

So the finals are set.

It's the Slayers vs the Chill. The Slayers find themselves heavy heavy favourites in this one with team captan JD and Mark Duggan expected to return for the final game of the seasons, and maybe the final game for JD as he has hinted at retirement to focus on other ventures. They have dominated the Chill each time they play and have the most potent offence in the league without question.

The Chill will have to play the game of their lives to stand a chance at all.

But the play offs are full of surprises so lets see what next Monday brings!

Game time for the championship game will be 7:00PM at the PRCC.

This is Billy Concarney wishing each team the best of luck.

Be well folks!