ONE

We’re back for the third period of Game 6 between the Edmonton Blizzard and the Texas Renegades! Renegades lead 3-2 as they look to fight off elimination with this game.

The players take their places on the ice and the ref drops the puck! It seems as though Edmonton’s coach lit a fire under his team as they are quick on the puck. Kane wins the face-off for his team and works the puck back to Winston Windsor, who starts the push. Windsor passes the puck up to Sarantez, who works his way around the Renegades defense, breaking into their zone.

Sarantez spots Kane trailing behind him and drops the puck for him. Kane meets it and fires off a quick wrist shot…



STOPPED BY OGORODNIKOV!


He can’t hold on to it and the puck bounces back out… and it seems that the Renegades just can’t jump on it! Windsor speeds up to the puck and fires off a nasty slap shot!



AND IT FINDS THE MESH. BLIZZARD TIE THE GAME AT 3.


TWO

Jakub Aittokallio was not only a stand-out player for the Edmonton Blizzard, he was the MAN this season. Every game from him just seemed to be another legendary performance for him as he put up the best numbers across the league and was able to cross a few things off his career bucket list, reaching quite a few nice milestones.

Unfortunately, not everything can be perfect in someone’s career all the time. While Aitto is one of the best, he definitely didn’t see his run through the regular season continue as the Blizzard chased their repeat.

Through several games against the Renegades and the Dragons, Aittokallio struggled. He wasn’t able to match the numbers he put up in the regular season and saw himself fall to a 90.8 save percentage in the post-season. Through the Blizzard’s 13 games he also was held to a 2.76 GAA. While not terrible, it definitely wasn’t what Edmonton fans were hoping for from him. Aittokallio made a point to fight off retirement by being named a star several times during the season, but was only named first star once through the 13 games. However, the team stood behind their man, and were possibly eliminated for that very reason.


THREE

Let’s be honest, going into the first round, not too many people expected that the Texas Renegades would be able to go punch-for-punch with the Blizzard, the team looking for their repeat.

Just a season ago the roles were certainly reversed, but with Texas’ future in jeopardy due to moves made seasons before, the team had to start moving talent to retool before it was too late. A weaker Texas simply stood no chance against a team that has been relatively the same since their last run. That wasn’t the case though.

Poor performances from some players on the team and especially their goalie, Jakub Aittokallio, led the Renegades to taking the series to Game 6. They almost extended the series but collapsed in the third period, letting Edmonton score twice in two minutes, which led to the Blizzard moving on.

What would’ve happened if Texas had held on in the third and extended the series? Well, it’s very reasonable to say they would’ve taken the series. It’s unlikely they would’ve beat the Dragons, but they would’ve been able to make a run in the post-season and get credit for eliminating the champions. Who really knows what would’ve happened, but that just showed how important every single period is in hockey.


FOUR

In S28, the Edmonton Blizzard were fortunate to win the Challenge Cup. On the roster was a group of close agents who had seen it all in the league, and now they had won it all together. One of those agents was the agent of Brett Broadway, who was riding Cloud 9 after winning his first championship in his first season, even if he was the back-up goalie for the team.

On his day with the Cup, Broadway made sure to head back to St. Paul, MN to celebrate the championship with his friends and family. Broadway comes from a big hockey family, with older brothers Justin and Shane being stars in the Premier Hockey League. They were both there for their little bro as was the rest of the family. The day was spent simply with a family get-together with friends, celebrating lake-side with a bar-b and various water fun stuff. Lots of people got their opportunity to get their picture with Brett and his Cup, so hopefully Broadway will one day work his way to the top and make sure that everyone who got the pictures and so on have something of value. It’s certain that he has had one heck of a start though!