The final two Quarter Previews

The Arc Angels (6) and Ice Gators (3) will be squaring off this Saturday in what should be a good quarterfinal match up. These two teams faced each other only one time this season with the Gators losing 2-1 in a goalie battle. In net for this gators was Senators netminder Rush “Mexico” Rector who stopped 26 of 28 shots. The Angels rolled out James Ayala who stopped 34 of 35 in the winning effort. Mike “The Killer” Wolf (Killer Wolf is a classic song by Danzig) scored for the Bayou Bunch, and Kent “Super” Gordon and Dave Opalecky scored for the Angels.

Now the Gators have had a rocky season. After dropping a very close season opener to the Stingers, the Gators went on a tear, and absolute tear. Over the next four games they scored 29 goals, and only allowed 6! Now the rest of the season the team began to crumble a bit. Bruno disappeared (swallowed by gator? Promoting Movie?), and the team started having difficulties getting all together on game nights. But the Gators did pull it together, and after the loss to the Angels they won their last three passing over the Hurricanes, ending up in 3rd place for the season.

The Angels on the other hand have been a 500 hockey club pretty much all season long. Looking at the stats, they don’t have a guy who stands out with 14, 15, or 20 goals. The team is anchored by longtime Angel Kent Gordon, a veteran of the Bronze League. He has 4 goals and 4 assists this season, and has shown to be a rock on the Angels bench. Leading scorer Brandon Decker has found the back of the net 7 times, and is hoping to find it a few more times against the Gators. This team is coached by “Wild” Bill Ivey, and does have a Stanley Keg on their resume. All it will take for the Angels to win it all is a three game win streak, but that will all obviously start with getting through the Gators.

I predict a close battle on this one 3-2 Gators win in overtime.

Now for the last quarterfinal preview we have the Hurricanes and Senators. The one time these two teams met this season we had 44 penalty minutes, and a fight in the stands that spilled out into the parking lot. Tensions were running high for sure. The Canes took the game 9-6 thanks to former NHL draft pick #40 on the Canes who showed off some sweet skating moves in route to a five goal night. The main attraction here will be the Saylor/Donovan showdown. Donovan (Sens) leads the league with a record setting 34 points, while Saylor (Canes) is right on his heals with 33. A little bit of history for you, these two were teammates a few years back. I am expecting these two to be on each other like white on rice this game. Donovan is bigger, stronger, and probably has better hands, while Saylor is smaller, faster, and seemingly never tired.

The Hurricanes are a team that probably not many people are routing for in these playoffs. Last season we had a team come in (Lady Stars) and win the Keg, then bail on the league. The Lady Stars seemed to only have three or four people on their roster, and relied on an arsenal of ringer subs to win the league. So now enter the Hurricanes, a team that is in their first year, and what looks to be their last year. Next season the Canes are going by the way side, and a new team will enter the league…the Bandits. For this season it seems the consensus is that we would like to see one of our own teams that has been in the league a while win the Keg. The Canes have been accused from time to time of having ringers on their roster, and have been a team that has just seemed to be in chaos all season long. Relying on players from other teams, and outsiders, this Canes team finished the year with a deceptive 7 and 5 record. I say deceptive because three of their games were forfeits. The biggest thing about the Canes is that they don’t posses a full time goalie. Ryan Kelly has been in the pipes on most nights for these guys, and will no doubt be manning the net against the Sens. If the Canes are to win, who will they get as their goalie?

Finally we have the Senators, a team in their second season in the bronze league that at time has shown massive amounts of promise. Led by a pair of guys that are soon to plying their craft in the Silver League, Mac Donovan and Matt Davis, this Senators team can turn it on. The Sens had an up and down season. Mid way through they had a three game win streak where they were averaging 9 goals a game. However, this win streak was muted by a three game losing streak where the goals average dropped down to 6 a game. The Senators took on the Indians twice this season losing both games, but one of which was in overtime. They also faced the Gators twice splitting those two games. The Senators Achilles Heal has been penalties. 80 total penalty minutes for this team with two guys over 20. If this team is to beat the Canes, they are going to have to stay disciplined. Keeping guys out of the box and on the ice will prevent the Canes power play from taking over. Mid season the Sens made a coaching change with Steve Hall sliding down the bench to make room for new coach Julian Waters.

Next season the Senators will become affiliated with a new silver league team which as of yet does not have a name. New Senators are on the way, and several of the current squad is moving up to the Silver League. So once the new Silver League team is in place the Senators will have a silver league affiliate, and a gold league affiliate with their coach’s team, the Whistlers, in the event a player can take his game all the way to the top.

I say the Sens will take the Canes 6-4 in a high paced, high scoring affair.

The stage is set for the Quarter Finals

Its all set folks. Last night the Silver Bullets handled their business against an uber small rostered Jags squad. One person on the bench was not enough to hold off the offensive attack from the Bullets. Now the Jags will play the Spider Monkeys in the final game of their seasons for the Bronze Cup this Saturday at 11:30. Moving on to the next round we have Mid Air, and of course the Silver Bullets. Both of these teams face an uphill battle as the Bullets have Bronze League powerhouse, the Keller Indians, and the Airport boys have to take on the mighty three time champ Stingers. Before I move on, I still haven’t seen the stats from the play in games, so I cant really comment on what all happened. I know Mid Air won a feisty battle against the Monkeys. CHL Journeyman Aaron Davis refereed the contest, and said it almost got ugly. I think the main story in the Jags Bullets game was the short bench. Having only one sub makes for a difficult and exhausting night.

So on to the Quarters. Indians and Bullets, and I have to go with the Indians here. They are just too deep, too strong, and play great as a team. Not too mention their netminder, Ryan Kelly, is a rock between the pipes. For the Bullets to have a chance in this one they are going to need to play together, and their defense is going to have to step it up. D is going to have to keep the puck in the zone, and prevent breakaways. If they can do that it will be up to the SB snipers such as the Birdman to find an empty spot in the back of the net. The Bullets have many capable scorers, the only problem is that the Indians are loaded with snipers as well. Kyle Kelly can easily light the lamp from the blue line at any given moment. I say 6-3 Indians in this one. Sorry Bullets, that Tribe is mighty strong.

Now the other play in winner Mid Air will face the Yellow and Black attack from the Stingers. Mid Air has shown some big signs of improvement, and is on a win streak. The only thing is that the Bees are looking for another Keg, and will be relentless. Roland and Meeks have been having fine seasons, and those are only two names on a list of about a half a dozen that can score at will. The big question is whether or not Dave Mulvey will be in uniform for the Stingers. The heart and soul of the team has been in talks with a Finnish I League team. Apparently coach Fenili is trying to trade Mulvey to the Gerstunkin Gefelterfish of the Finnish Premier I League. Last report talks were stalled out after Fenili rejected the first proposal of Mulvey for three pucks, a block of stick wax, and a fresh sheep’s head. My sources indicate Fenili is after no fewer than ten pucks which would make the Mulvey trade the biggest in Nytex Bronze League History. Stingers win this one 2-1 in overtime.

The Playoff Picture is Set

This weekend wrapped up the regular season at Nytex for the Bronze League. We will dive into the playoffs here in a bit, but first lets recap this past weekends action.

The Stingers beat the Indians, however since it was an overtime win, the Tribe picks up a point, and the Bees end up one point back for the top seed heading into the playoffs. At the time I am writing this the stats have not been entered into league lineup yet, so I dont know who did what in this game. Now both these teams will wait to see who wins in this weeks play in games to find out who they will play in the quarters.

The Arc Angels made a strong statement by blanking the Spider Monkeys 6-0.

The Gators beat the bullets 3-1. This was significant because with the Canes going down, the Gators shot up the leaderboard to finish the season in third.

The suprise of the night came when Mid Air beat those Hurricanes 3-1.

Then in the last game of the night the Senators beat the Jaguars 5-4. The Jags were light on their roster, and had to call on the services of some of those Gators.

SO NOW ON TO THE PLAYOFFS:
Monday Night We will have #7 seed Mid Air Collision squaring off against the Spider Monkeys. I think Mid Air has the upper hand in this one. Fresh off a victory over the Hurricanes, this Mid Air team is riding high, and looking ahead to the quarter finals. Mid Air's offensive attack is led by Todd Dottalo. The Spider Monkeys will be "Voting For Pedro" to lead the charge as Pedro Montemoyer will try to team up with Russell Fletcher to pass these Airport boys.

Killer's prediction 5-2 Mid Air. Mid Air's offense will wear out the Monkeys and pull away with three strong goals in the third period.

Tuesday Nights showdown features the #8 seed, the Silver Bullets taking on the #9 Jags. Bullets will be calling on the Birdman, Casey Bird to light the lamp. He is in the double digit goal scored club, and planning on giving the Jags more than they can handle. The Birdman is not the only weapon these Bullets posses, Laz Lasson has proven to be able to score, and will be calling on his big slap shot to do some damage against these cats. Brandon Suits and Mike Hvidston could see some action in this battle, and dont discount Krajewski, he is due for a big game. On the flipside of the coin the Jags have had a rocky season, but are looking to Rocky Diacobbe to be solid between the pipes against the Silver Bullet Snipers. There is no telling who the Jags will roll out with for this one, they have had so mayn different people playing with them this season. The big question is whether or not they will have enough players to avoid a forfeit.

Killer's prediction 6-3 Bullets, provided of course the Jags can field a team. Either way I see the Bullets moving on and the Jags taking some time to build their team back up for a full season run next session. Hats off to Jags coordinator Ivana Galan who started this year with nothing, and like Rudy stuck with it until she picked her team up out of the ashes.

The other playoff matchups that we know about will feature the Angels taking on the Gators and the Senators taking on bitter rival the Hurricanes. I will write more on these matchups as the week progresses.