Standings after March 11th Games:
1. Knights 18 (104/31)
2. Yeti 16 (87/37)
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3. Mayhem 14 (72/52)
4. Colonials 11 (67/85)
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5. Eagles 10 (71/46)
6. Jawas 6 (48/79)
7. Walkers 4 (55/99)
8. Hounds 2 (37/108)
**Note for the Playoffs: Top 2 teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will earn a bye on April 1st. The 3rd place team will play the 4th place team at 6 p.m. on April 1st. Winner will earn the 3rd seed in the playoffs and play against the 2nd seed in a best of 3 series starting on April 8th. The loser of that game is not eliminated, but they will have to win a single elimination play in game on April 8th against whoever comes out of the consolation bracket (5th place to 8th place teams). The consolation bracket will be 5th place against 8th place, then 6th place against 7th place with the winners taking on one another on the same night. Whoever earns that 4th playoff spot will go up against the #1 seed in the semi finals.
April 1st:
3 vs 4 at 6 p.m. (winner earns 3rd seed, loser has to win a play in game on April 8th).
5 vs 8 at 6:50 p.m.
6 vs 7 at 7:40 p.m.
6:50 p.m. game winner vs 7:40 p.m. game winner at 830
April 8th
4th place game (Play In Game) at 615
2nd seed vs 3rd seed in game 1 of a best of 3 at 715
Play in Winner vs 1st seed in game 1 of best of 3 at 815
April 15th
TBD based on April 8th results
*The championship will have its own night. We will not combine a potential game 3 semi final series with game 1 of the finals on the same night. We will more than likely play game 1 and game 2 of the championship series on the same night with a game 3 the following week if needed.
Jawas 9 Hounds 8
The Jawas picked up their 2nd straight win following a long 7 game losing streak. This was a rematch of opening night when the Jawas beat the Hounds 9-2. This game was close from start to finish. The Hounds got off to a good start this time around and led 3-1 at the end of the 1st period. The Jawas were playing without Jeff Wehner while the Hounds were without Kyle Dillon or Brenden Chesley. Both goalies played well the first 2 periods (Kaden Coulter and Chris Snyder) but both got exposed a little more in a back and forth 3rd period. The game was tied at 4 after 2 periods but the teams combined for 9 goals in the 3rd period. Laken Dodd put the Jawas up 5-4 and Derik Pearce later scored off an interception to give the Jawas a little more of a cushion. Mark Chesley made a perfect set up pass to Jaron Buffone early in the 3rd period which looked like it would put the Hounds ahead, but Jawas goalie Kaden Coulter made perhaps the save of the game at the time to keep the game tied. The Jawas found themselves up by 2 goals but the Hounds kept narrowing the deficit throughout the 3rd period. Cody Haag scored off a nice set up pass from Andrew Britton to cut the deficit to 1 but they could not score the tying goal at the end. The Jawas were well rounded in scoring between Adam McKinley, Joe Roush, Laken Dodd and Derik Pearce. Jason Stamler played a little bit to give John Matchock a chance to get his goalie stuff on for the Colonials and contributed the Jawas 5th goal to put them ahead 5-4. The Hounds got 2 goals each from Mark Chesley, Cody Haag and Andrew Britton. Jaron Buffone and Garrett Britton each scored as well. These 2 teams will meet again to conclude the regular season in a couple weeks. Both will find themselves in the 5th place consolation bracket when the playoffs start. The consolation bracket will give each team a chance to work their way into the championship bracket but they will have to win 3 single elimination games to get there. If the season ended now, the Jawas would play the Walkers and the Hounds would play against the Eagles to start out the play in tournament. We will see what happens in the next 2 weeks. The Hounds have games against the Walkers and Jawas remaining while the Jawas have the Eagles and Hounds remaining. Whoever finishes 8th appears to be stuck playing against either the Eagles or Colonials in the first play in game.
Knights 12 Colonials 5
The Knights got back on track with a 12-5 win over the Colonials last night. They were penalized 7 times last week but stayed out of the penalty box last night. The Colonials actually had their full team and hung within striking distance for a while. The game was tied at 1 after the 1st period. Neither team scored until Noah Kline batted in a rebound about 8 minutes into the game to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. Colonials goalie John Matchock played a really good 1st period for the Colonials and made several difficult saves throughout the game. Bob Anderson would later tie the game at 1 after his shot bounced off a couple guys finding its way into the net to tie the game up at 1. Once again, things got away from the Colonials in the 2nd period. A 1-1 game quickly turned into a 4-1 game thanks to some goal scoring from Andy Calvert and Nate Galentine. Kevin Smith would later score to close the deficit to 4-2 but the Knights scored 4 unanswered goals to end the 2nd period. Jake Kline and Brandon Reiter got in on some of the goal scoring for the Knights in that stretch. The Colonials tried to limit Reiter’s chances throughout the game. He would finish with 3 goals. The Colonials closed a 6 goal gap to 4 goals on a couple different occasions in the 3rd period. Bob Anderson and Kevin Smith each scored to close the gap to 8-4 and Denny Stinchcomb would later score off of a nice set up pass from Bob Anderson to close the gap to 9-5 with around 5 minutes to go in the 3rd period. The game would remain 9-5 up until the Knights scored 3 times in the closing minute. One of the goals came off of a Colonials penalty but that was the only penalty of the game. The win assures the Knights of a night off on April 1st. Don’t forget, there is a tournament on Thursday, March 28th for anyone worried about potential rust to start out the playoffs. The Yeti are only 2 points out of 1st place right now with the 2 teams playing against one another next week. A win would actually put the Yeti in 1st place since they would have won the season series. Either way, the Knights wont be playing on April 1st and will await either the 3rd seed or 4th seed for a best of 3 series starting on April 8th. Despite the losing streak, the Colonials are still in position to only have to win one game on April 1st (more than likely against the Mayhem)to be assured a number 3 seed in the playoffs. They could still fall into the consolation bracket and have to win 3 single elimination play in games if the Eagles can jump ahead of them at the end of the regular season. The Colonials have games against the Mayhem and Yeti remaining while the Eagles have the Jawas and Knights. The Colonials currently sit 1 point ahead of the Eagles in the standings but the Eagles have a lot more momentum going for them right now than the Colonials do.
Mayhem 10 Walkers 5
This game was closer than the final score indicated. Both teams went toe to toe for over 30 minutes before the Mayhem pulled away at the end. One of the goals was scored at the very end of the game with the Mayhem already ahead 9-5. The goal disappointed Walkers goalie Tony Dodd as he mentioned the Mayhem already had the game won when one of their players collided with him in the net in the closing seconds of the game. The collision could have caused a potential injury. This was a well played game by both teams. The Mayhem had Clint goalie for them since Derrian skates out for the Walkers. Derrian contributed a goal late in the game for the Walkers but the Mayhem had slowly pulled away by then. The Mayhem led 3-2 at the end of the 1st period thanks to goals from Tyler Waltman, Tyler Stitt and Jason Stamler. Jason Stamler would later add another important goal in the 3rd period to help the mayhem gain a little more separation. Brice Miller scored a couple goals in the game and made a couple nice passes to teammates as well to keep the Walkers in it. Trent Bembenic scored twice in the 2nd period including a power play goal to keep the Mayhem ahead after 2 periods. Troy Gaydosh scored a couple times for the Walkers with one of them closing the gap to 5-3 late in the 2nd period. His other goal closed the gap to 7-4 midway thru the 3rd period. A couple late goals from Anthony Schuckers put the game away for the Mayhem. It appears that the Mayhem are going to finish 3rd in the standings when the regular season ends but they could actually move up to 2nd if they can pull off another win over the Colonials next week and win against the Walkers on the final night of the regular season. The Yeti still have games against the Knights and Colonials remaining. The Yeti would get the tiebreaker over the Mayhem since they beat them in their matchup earlier this season. The Walkers are currently 7th in the standings but they could finish 6th or even 8th depending on what happens these next 2 weeks. Regardless, they will have to win 3 single elimination play in games when the playoffs begin.
Yeti 4 Eagles 2
The Yeti picked up their 7th straight win last night by overcoming a 2-0 deficit midway thru the 2nd period. Cody Schuckers scored in the opening minute of the game by deflecting one by Yeti goalie Adam McKinley to give the Eagles and early 1-0 lead. McKinley was never able to secure complete possession of the ball. He only made one more mistake the rest of the way when Larry scored for the Eagles late in the first period to make it a 2-0. Henry Sutter and the Eagles held the Yeti scoreless for over half the game before Steve Kalgren, who believe it or not, made the game on time, scored the Yeti’s first goal to close the deficit to 2-1. The ball bounced off his teammate’s, Ben Rossi’s SS and found a way by Henry Sutter to close the gap to 2-1. Kalgren would later score again without the assistance of Ben Rossi’s _SS to tie the game at 2. The goal came on an unexpected breakaway opportunity. The game would remain tied at 2 until Derik Day scored about 5 minutes into the 3rd period to put the Yeti up 3-2. Day would later add an important insurance goal to push the lead to 4-2. The Eagles had a power play opportunity in the final couple minutes of the game but were unable to take advantage of it. This was a playoff style hockey game with both goalies playing well and both defenses playing well. The loss actually keeps the Eagles in 5th place in the regular season standings. They wont be able to earn a first round bye, but they could still realistically climb ahead of the Colonials for 4th place and only have to win one game against (most likely the Mayhem) on April 1st to earn a top 3 seed in the playoffs. If they get 5th place, they will have to win 3 play in games to get into the best of 3 series semi final round. Despite last nights loss, it looks like they are playing good hockey at the right time.
Jason Stamler (Mayhem)
1. 10 to 5 win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? We played very well.
2. The game was close throughout. How were you able to pull away at the end? We played our game and didn’t lose focus on what we had to do
3. You are still scoring goals including a couple tonight. Are you happy with your role on this team? Yes I am. They are good group of guys.
4. Trent missed the first part of the season but is here now. What’s his presence bring ? . He brings offense and defense he’s a good two way player
5. Pens are falling apart. What was your opinion of the guentzel trade? We knew it was coming. At least he went to a good team. He will fit in well with the Hurricanes.
Brice Miller (Walkers)
1. 10 to 5 loss tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? As a whole there were some positives, just let the game get away from us
2. The game was close most of the way. What do you think went wrong at the end? We left too many guys open and allowed too many odd man rushes in third trying to pinch for offense.
3. Any positives to take out of the game? . I think we matched their speed well through 2 periods, and we got a few past Clint.
4. No Corey. What’s his presence do for you guys? Corey is great for bringing us speed and he can forecheck well. Theres times he only has a full throttle and he can win a lot of battles for possession
5. Pens fell apart recently. What do you think went wrong for them? What sucks the most about the pens is they out shoot most teams. The power play has been abysmal all season and you can’t let those opportunities go to waste. Soft defense has just killed them. Too many offensive minded d-men that can’t box out the front of the net or quite frankly have the awareness cover anyone. The younger faster teams tear them apart. Too many things to fix at once and there are some dark times on the horizon for Penguins hockey.
Joe Roush (Jawas)
1. Jawas picked up a 2nd straight win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort tonight? Nice to see everyone contributing and doing their part.
2. The game was tied at 4 after 2 but we saw a bunch of goals in the 3rd period. What do you think you guys did better in the 3rd period? We had a nice little surge to tie it up at 4 during the second period as it seemed our team controlled the ball for the most part during that period. We moved the ball better from that point forward giving us more scoring chances throughout the third.
3. Do you think team chemistry has come along the last couple of weeks ? We've done better with possession it seems as of lately and trying to slow down the play a little bit when on the offensive.
4. 2 of the leagues youngest goalies in this game. How do you think they did? . They both did well, played their angles well from what I saw for the most part. Gotta encourage the young guys to keep showing up each week whether they're goalies or skaters. They are the future of keeping hockey available to play in the area after all.
5. One goal game. What do you think was the difference between winning by a goal compared to losing by one? Luckily we were on the plus side of that for most of the third period with some back and forth. Slowing the game down and making sure passes was key. Distinguishing the difference between our brown shirts and their black at a quick glance was incredibly difficult though. May be wise for us to bring some white tees when we play them again for our season final game.
John Matchock (Colonials)
1. 12 to 5 loss to the knights tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort ? I thought we played well. They are just too fast and when they get a lead you have to go against your game plan.
2. Things got away in the 2nd period. What do you think went wrong? I let in some questionable shots.
3. What signs of encouragement did you see from the team tonight? After we withstood the initial surge, we were able to get some good scoring chances.
4. You faced a ton of shots tonight. Were you happy with how you played? Nope. Not at all.
5. Guentzel gone now. What’s your opinion of the players the team got in return for him? I thought they could have got more but the prospects they got are better than ones they have in their system. Hopefully they can help out sooner than later.
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