The playoffs are upon us…
The first matchup of the 2026 summer playoffs featured rookie captain Eli Schonbruns Blue Schelbies looking to stoppa veteran captain Jeremy Copps Coppa Troppas. The two teams finished the season tied with 8 points so with no clear favorite it was anyones game to win… or lose(Or Draw?). It would be the Blue Schelbies striking first under a minute into the 1st, with dragon boat racer Brendan Jew scoring his first of the playoffs. Despite the two teams having significant offensive power it would be the lone goal of the first period and it would be well into the 2nd before the bearded wonder himself Eli Schonbrun would make it 2-0 for the Shelbies. The Coppas finally answered the Beard and the Dragon (get it Bearded Dragon) a minute into the 3rd when Chris Fiore (Jim Lagrossa) would net his first of the playoffs to pull Orange within one. It would be a repeat of the first two goals a mere 80 seconds later when both Brendan(Adam, Jason) and Eli(Kyle) would each score another increasing the Schelbies lead to 4-1. The Albatross aka Justin Hepler would give the Troppas their 2nd of the game with a quick wrist shot from the circle but it would be a case of too little too late and with Jason Lee’s empty netter the Schelbies would crush Oranges game one inspirations. I’m sure Eli liked when he saw from his team in its convincing 5-2 week one win over a very offensively talented Orange.
Game two was no wild duck hunt, as Carl Vankoughnett’s Super Malkios squared off against Zach Siemers’ Puck Hunt. The regular season meeting ended in a convicing Neon win over a Kalenless Grey so not really a good indicator of what may occur in the playoff meeting. The Super Malkios Joe Mailki would strike first and early with a quick shot a mere 38 seconds into the game to give Neon the early lead. A few minutes later, a Puck Hunt line change turned into a hunting accident, allowing Super Malkios Parsa to race in on a breakway to lift Neon to a 2-0 lead. No scoring in the 2nd but the teams did exchange penalties. Not to be outdone by the 2nd period penalties, the teams once again exchanged penalties in the 3rd period, Ryan Karns with a trip reminescent of a soccer game and Puck Hunt with the dreaded too many men. Despite a lot of chances neither team would end up scoring on any of the 4 power plays in the game. WIth about 2 minutes to go Craig Russel (Sean Kelly) netted his first of the playoffs and gave grey a lift of spirit and momentum as the Puck Hunts would Hunt the Puck and search for the equalizer in the final minute. With a draw deep in the Neon end and with the goalie pulled Puck Hunt were hungry, but it was not meant to be and after a small scramble and partial clear to centre ice the aging Neon squad was able to find the empty net to increase its lead to 3-1 where it would finish moving Neon onto game two on the winners bracket and grey on to face the loser of the Pink vs Brown matchup.
Our third game of the night featured the top versus the bottom from the regular season which in previous seasons has resulted in that big upset. Captain Bao’s Getting Piped By Bao-Sers entered the playoffs on an extreme high after a big victory in week 8 followed by a solid tie against a strong Orange. Skippy Teglia and the Willuigis entered the playoffs with high hopes and big dreams. The game also marked the first playoff appearance for Gabe Davenport whose smile was brighter the sun the last few weeks. Purple would strike first with Captain Skippy Teglia leading by example early in the first assisted by Tim Vick and Janet Goins. Carleton Place Ontario native Owen Perks would follow up a few minutes later with his first of the playoffs from Captain Teglia to move Purple into a solid 2-0 lead shortly into the game. But you can’t count Green out and with Rookie forward Alex Rockoff cutting the Purple lead to 1 it was still anyones game. After a tight 2nd period it wasn’t until 2:19 when we saw another goal when Trevor Vicks Dad happened upon the ball to net his first of the playoffs. The goal moved Purple into a 3-1 lead and in control and feeling confident. Chris Tran however would move the mighty Green to within one with a mere 1:41 to go in the 3rd period and setting the stage for a dramatic finish. After a hard fought final minute the Willuigis were able to hang on and cruise to Tim Vicktory with the 4-2 win over the 8th seed Green. Purple will move on to face a very solid Blue while Green will play Captain Copps Coppa Troppas.
Our final game to close out week 1 of the playoffs featured Lena Amelangs Kirby Enthusiasm vs Bryan Ossas Dookey Kong. Chuck Bender was probably excited to be playing for his own team for the first time in 3 games, and with both teams missing mutliple players it set the stage for a legendary game for the ages. The regular season matchup went to Dookey Kong so Captain Ossa entered the game believing anything could happen. Eric Williard would start things off a few minutes into the first when he was enabled by Mr Abel for his first of the playoff season for Pink. Mr Nagy would answer a few minutes later to bring the teams even at 1 to start the 2nd period. Josh Wirt would start off the 2nd period with his first of the playoffs from Mr Nagy however Lena Amelang herself would take the reins and answer for Pink scoring her first of the playoffs to even things up heading into the 3rd period. The 3rd period was a solid period for both teams and as murmurs of “Could this go to overtime” started circulating on both benches as well as the scores of fans watching Bryan Ossa decided he wanted no part of overtime. With Brown pressing hard in the offensive zone the ball floated back to the blue line where Mr Ossa wound up for the patented Ossa Slap Shot (aka Slap Shossa). A blistering shot was launched directly into Pat Gladstone who promptly took one for the team however the ball bounced directly back to Mr Ossa who wound up a 2nd time with a low shot that managed to make its way through scores of players to score the highlight reel winner with only 15 seconds left. It was a dramatic finish which propelled Brown into a winners brack matchup vs the Super Malkios and moved Pink into a matchup with Grey.
