Sometimes you have to plan for the worst, and hope for the best in life (and hockey playoffs). The ‘worst’ for Purple came in the form of a Jon Salt facial injury, which he sustained in the Thursday night session days prior. With the super sniper and scoring title co-silver medalist on the shelf, all that was left was for Captain Kerri Sevenbergen and her crew to hope for the best against a very tough, and very determined Charcoal side. Patrick Theis’ solid rookie campaign was really turning to sparkle in the second season, and the son of a league legend was locked in through the first two periods of play, holding a relentless Charcoal attack at bay and stopping all eighteen shots he faced. Don Tran was less busy, but equally effective at the other end, stopping all ten Purple attempts to keep things deadlocked at 0-0 going into the final frame. As the clock wound down under the 4:00 mark, it began to look like this one would have to be decided in extra time, or possibly shootout, but a Chris Tran tip found its way past Theis to break the scoring seal for the second seeds (from Owen Perks and Mark Ennsmann). Kalen Hunter doubled the lead with a solo effort at 2:08, and Ennsmann (from Jackson Tomaszewski) sealed Purple’s fate with an empty-netter at 1:28. Purple wasn’t done fighting, but Eric Willard’s response at 0:55 (from Trice Harvey) was too little, too late. Theis would finish with a 26/28 line, and a rare first star honor for a player one the losing side. Tran’s steady 14/15 kept his team primed for victory until the third period pounce, with just the late blemish to submarine his shutout bid. The 3-1 win, while perhaps ‘too close for comfort’ for Captain Shawna Hamon & Company, was enough to push Charcoal on to a showdown with a waiting Royal Blue…
So…it would be number two and number three battling for the chance to take on number one…just as the regular season foretold. There is mixed wisdom on whether there is an advantage, or a disadvantage to being the team in Charcoal’s position…coming off a do or die game only to jump right back into a second. Conventional logic would be ‘of course it’s a disadvantage…you’re already tired from playing a full game’, while the real history of this scenario seems to bear out that the ‘tired’ team is actually more ‘primed/warmed up’ than anything else. Whatever the case, it was sure to be a great match between two great teams, with the major asterisk being that Royal Blue was without Eric Herrmann…only the league’s leading scorer, and most consistently dominant force in the league for seasons on end. Ty Pereira was running and gunning throughout this match, and he put Royal Blue on the board first with a solo strike late in the first. Jackson Tomaszewksi (from Chris Tran and Kalen Hunter) responded at 5:41 in the second, but it was Pereira again minutes later on the power play (from Carl Vankoughnett) to give the edge back to Royal Blue through two. Captain Shawna Hamon equalized for her team at 5:11 in the third (from Mark Ennsmann and Parsa Mostafavi), but that was just the start of her heroine heroics. Much like the earlier game, Don Tran was the less tested of the two tenders (12/14), but his play kept Charcoal in striking distance long enough for Hamon’s strike to land and force OT. Nick Meglich was ‘magical’ as ever, stopping more than two and a half times the shots at his end (31/33) to set up everyone’s least favorite/favorite way to decide things…the shootout. Both goalies were gritty and great under the peerless, pin drop pressure, with both Tran and Meglich turning aside the first four shooters. Captain Hamon was up last for Charcoal, and…she delivered a sweet shuck and jive goal past Meglich to put her team on the precipice! Eric Plone would need to respond for Royal Blue, or it would be an all ‘shades of grey’ Final. Plone did get off a nice shot, but it sailed over the bar, and Charcoal slipped into the Final with a 3-2 shootout win.
This just in…we will have to wait until June 18th to wrap this endless season…Mother Nature sneaked in one last rainout!