Halifax Floor Hockey LeagueThe "New Season" started last night as we dropped the ball for the 2015"A" Season play offs. All of the regular season stats...all of the games played so far...all of the dominance...goes right out the window. It is a fresh start and with our league...anyone can beat anyone on any given night. Well, this night was no different. So enough of this trash, let's get at it!
The first game of the night was the regular season champs, The Sabres pitted against the last place team, which no one could figure out why, Hackers. On Paper these two teams were one and two, but they were at opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to regular season play. But tonight, well tonight was anyone's game.
The Sabres were missing veteran Jeff "My Arms Are Some Big" Shute. One of the leagues best kept secrets, while the Hackers were also missing Tony "The Pony" Joyce, who as well has been a dominant figure in years gone by for the HFHL.
The ball dropped and the teams traded goals for the first bit but Gill "The whole hair thing is really really old" Momborquette broke the deadlock on a pass from Mark "Brother 1" McGuigan and the first ended 3-2 for the Hackers.
The second period belonged to Chad "you can take this to the" Banks. He scored the only two goals of the period on feeds from Dave "I'm Super" Cooper and Gill "The hair thing" Mombo.
Hackers are stunning Sabres at this point. The Sabres played some of the period short handed and season leading goaltender Chris "Big C" MacKinnon faced 28 shots alone in this period.
The Sabres tried to mount an attack in the third, but they just couldn't handle the Hackers. This was a shocker to say the least, but deep deep down, you have to wonder if the Hackers management just finished in last place trying to win the McDavid Sweepstakes?
Hackers move on to the second round by beating the Sabres 8-6. Worth while to note that Chris MacKinnon faced 66 shots in this one.
The Fire finished second in the league regular season, and as a result faced off against the Chill, who true to their name, were pretty cool this season. After winning the whole shebang last season, Keven "Son of Rob" Pittman just did not mix the chemistry well enough to have regular season success. To top it off, their regular goalie was going to be absent as well. A tall feat for the Chill on this night.
But enter (epic music starts) Kevin "The Boot" Shute! A tall dark stranger...ok a short plump guy we know, wonders into the gym and dawns the armour of heroes! Yes, Kevin Shute puts the gear on for the Chill! He steps into the net and remarkably gives the performance of a life time! After the first period Kevin has held the Fire to just two goals on 22 shots!
The Fire led 2-1 after the first.
Start the second...could this be the mother of all mothers of all improbable heroic victories? (record scratches)
Nope! The Fire hammered and hammered away at the hapless Shute as he faced wave after wave of shots. The Chill tried as they may, but could not solve the riddle of one Bobby "The Plow Guy" Zwicker, who himself faced 41 shots and only allowed 4 goals for the night.
When it was all said and done, Braden "My Hair" Urquhart had tallied 5 goals and the Fire had melted any hope for the Chill.
Despite facing 60 shots and looking like swiss cheese, Kevin "The Boot" Shute was on the losing end and the Fire will move on by defeating the Chill 12-4.
The Slayers finished third during the regular season and drew the dubious task of facing off against the sixth place Bulldogs. The Dogs are never an easy game as they just keep coming and coming.
The Dogs came out of the gate barking and bit Kane and the Slayers for two quick ones. It did not look good for the Slayers so far. But before the period was done, The Slayers had hoped three and were up buy a score of 3-2 to end the first.
The second started much as the first had ended. The Slayers scored three more times while the Dogs best player on this night, Trevor "Law Man" McGuigan, scored the first of his three on Kane. the Slayers were up by a score of 6-3 after the second.
The third saw the Bulldogs do what they do best, press hard and long as they came at the Slayers fast and furious and found themselves down by two when they called a time out in the third. McGuigan had narrowed the gap and with 2:40 remaining, the Dogs were poised to make a comeback.
With about one minute left, McGuigan took a pass from Jeff "Man of the Fields" Sheppard and tucked it past Kane on a scramble in front of the net. 6-5 and time to spare.
With about 30 seconds remaining, Donnie "Beetle" Bailey took a pass and came in on Kane one on one, he zigged and zagged and had kane beat. He shot, but out of no where the smelt and agile Kane dove through the air...like a flash of lightning, like a...bird on the wind...like a...like a...fat old guy who fell down and stopped the ball with his paddle!
The Slayers managed to hang on and they move on after a squeaker by defeating the Dogs 6-5.
Last but not least, the Mighty Titans were facing off against the ferocious Lynx. These teams have battled each other hard and it was to be no different tonight.
The game started with a goal from JD (aka Jon Darnborough) unassisted, and this game was off to the races!
The teams traded goals and when the first was over the score was all even at 2 apiece.
Both goalies played great but a special shout out goes to Trevor "The Swan" Swain who played the best game of his career in the HFHL. The second saw the Titans veteran Alex "Blowin' A" Gale, score the period only goal to give the Titans the lead after two.
The third would shape up to be one of the best we have ever seen in the play offs at the HFHL.
It started with a sweet goal by Titans GM/Captain Scott" I'm Hot" Cross who took a feed from Shaun "Sippy Cup" Goodwin (though I forgot eh? lol) to give the Titans a two goal lead. Roger Keating grabbed a pass from Evan Canning and brought the Lynx within one. Cross then ripped a stinger past Swain on a pass from Gale and the Titans were up by two with about a minute and a half left. It was over night? ...Wrong! ( epic music starts again please)
in less than a minute, the Lynx struck twice, both goals by Evan Canning on feeds from JD...this game was tied with about 30 seconds left...but wait...the Lynx got caught on a bad line change and were called for too many men!
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock sloooooooowly ticks away and then the whistle blows. It is dead even after 3 so we are headed to a shoot out.
Now things get a bit blurry for me from here, but i will try and recall as best I can.
The first shooter of the night is JD, he goes in and shoots and scores!
Enter Matt Monk. One of the leagues best breakaway men. he comes in on Swain and fakes left but goes right. Swain does not flinch and makes a huge save!
Roger Keating takes the ball next and makes his was towards Boudreau. He shots but Boudreau gives him nothing!
Next up for the Titans in Alex Gale. he goes hard to the net but makes one too many moves and loses control.
The Lynx can take the game here. The next shooter, which I cannot recall so I am saying it was Ken Hiedman, goes to the net and makes his move, but again Boudreau stands his ground and keeps the Titans season alive.
Scott Cross takes the ball in and pulls the old Forsberg move and goes on way while tucking the ball into the bottom corner on the other...this one is tied folks!
Up next is Evan canning. he flies in and takes his shot but cannot beat Boudreau.
Titans send Shaun Goodwin to the floor. He takes the ball in and goes side to side, fakes Swain and he...SCORES!
this one is over! The Titans have beaten the Lynx and now move on by a score of 7-6.
So there you have it folks.
The first round is over and we see the following pairings for the semis.
Hackers vs Fire (Fire are the home team)
Titans vs Slayers (Slayers are the home team)
This weeks Eastside Mario's Player of the game goes to Marty "The Party" Kane, who faced 57 shots and turned aside 52. Congrats Marty!
We want to thank those who played this season and now have to find something to do on Monday nights! But wait...you can find something to do!
We will have pick up on the floors not being used for the semis and the finals over the next two weeks.
We also want to remind everyone that we have summer pick up which is full court on Monday nights from 8-10 starting May 24th, I believe. For more info contact Johann via email at jtienhaara@abmis.ca or Martin at martyk@eastlink.ca
Be quick though, because if we don't have enough guys we can't play!
So that's how it looked from here.
We want to once again encourage everyone to support Eastside Mario's in Bayers Lake. They have been more than kind.
The top scorer and goalie for the regular season received $20 gift certificates as well as a free appetizer for winning their respective titles.
They have been generous so let's support them!
So stay tuned next week as we recap the smell finals. Should be a doozy!
This is Billy Concarney saying so long and remember...why fit in when you're born to stand out!
Be well everyone!