Semi-Final Madness

Nothing was certain heading into action Wednesday night for the Semi-Finals.  The Wolverines were facing the Falcons in the first game and it was the Wolverines with the pressure on early.   Rohan Dempsey started it off with a low slapshot through the five-hole to give the Wolverines the early lead.  

 

The next shift would be another good one for the white team.  Josh Stevens took a shot on goal and Jamie Richard was in the right place as the rebound went right to him, and he roofed it, celebrating hard for his first goal of the summer.  

 

A 2-0 lead isn’t ever a secure one though, and the Falcons responded.  Kyle Lucas scored a rocket of a backhand goal from a nearly impossible angle to make it 2-1.  Then Joe MacDougall fed the puck to Jory Uhlman whose shot beat the glove of Ashton Speight to tie the game.

 

90 seconds later, Keegan Clark made a great pass to Kyle Lucas who had gotten behind Speight for the easy tap in, and the Falcons went in front.  But the awolverines were down, not out.  Andrew MacDonald found Joey Richard open at the point and his shot was perfect, just inside the post, and the Wolverines had tied it back up with just under a minute to play in the first.

 

As the time ticked down in the period, Scott Stewart picked up a puck in the neutral zone and then dangled Robin Gareau into next week, then deked McCarther and put it up and over the pad to make it 4-3xWolverines with 18 seconds left in the first.

 

Early in the second, the Wolverines had Josh Stevens hopping on the ice at the right moment as a Falcons pass exited the zone and Josh went full tilt to get it.  He took a great shot and then it was a two goal lead.  Jamie Richard was playing his best game of the year, so when he took a clapper over the goalie’s shoulder for the 3 goal lead, the Wolverines were confident they could ride that wave of emotion to the finish line.

 

The Falcons tried to mount a comeback, and Joe MacDougall got that going as he beat Speight with Dustin Hall driving the net to bring the deficit to 2.

 

With their goalie pulled, the Falcons threw everything at to Wolverines.  Jory Uhlman got a rebound at the side of the goal and it looked like an easy goal, but Speight made an incredible diving save to lock it down.  His team would add an empty netter as the Wolverines upset another top seeded team, and will play for the Cup Monday night.

 

In our 2nd game of the night, the Astros faced the Starrs, and the Astros launched into the goals column just 21 seconds in.  Norm Gallant fired a shot on goal that went off Landon Miron and past Blake Isenor.

 

The Astros would score the second goal of the game on a play that was a bit of a mystery.  Zack Harrison took a shot from the goal line and then it was nearby ref blew the whistle when he lost sight of it.  The farther ref came in and after a brief discussion, it was called a goal.

 

After Landon drew a penalty, the Astros Ryan Boucher nearly scored to make it 3-0, but Isenor stopped him with his left pad.  With 3:35 left in the opening period, the Starrs finally had a good chance.  Pat Oxner split the D and shot just enter the glove of Jared Worth.  The puck hit the post and came back towards Worth.  Oxner raised his arms at first, thinking it was a goal.  He might have had a tap in, but Worth spun around looking for the loose puck and knocked the net off, killing the play.

 

It was 2-0 Astros after 1, and the second period would be just as frustrating for the Starrs.  Darren Ells got his first of the playoffs on an early power-play, 39 seconds into the frame.  His shot through Blake’s five-hole, was about when the game got a little off the rails.  Penalty minutes were being dished out like Halloween candy.

 

Then Zack Harrison thanked the Starrs for a brutal turnover, and this time there was no question.  Zack ripped a Fireball of a rocket into the top of the net to make it 4-0.

 

We nearly had a couple suspensions in the final few minutes, but luckily no-one crossed the line as the game was getting heated.  The Astros held onto the 4 goal lead as Jared Worth earned the shutout and the chance to be in the finals for the 3rd time in 4 summer seasons.

 

The Wolverines and Astros will have the puck drop on their final game at 8:15 Monday, and we should know the winner around an hour after that.  Good luck to both teams.