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Sopath · 07-21-2024, 01:31 AM

Intro

I think that it goes without saying that in S77 The Maine Timber were the team to beat. In fact it really seemed like there was no one who was going to beat them. In 66 regular season games they had a winning percentage of .727. And that's without considering home ice advantage. At home this percentage goes up a bit to .757. How did Maine get this good? Well it certainly helps when you have two different players post more than 100 points for the season, which led to the team having a positive 126 goal differential. For perspective no other team was more than plus 70. With all these factors a team would certainly have to run the gauntlet to have a chance.

The Gauntlet

The Ottawa Highlanders had modest plus 29 goal differential. it was enough to make them a top 5 team in the SMJHL but it is frankly dwarfed by Maine's plus 126. Maine had 2 players with more than 100 points but Ottawa only had 3 point per game players on the roster. Surely if a team like Ottawa is going to win they needed as many chances as possible to beat Maine? Ottawa won in 6.

The Series

Things got weird immediately. Game 1 in Maine Ottawa would take the game 5-2. Despite the fact that Maine out shot Ottawa 38 to 18 on their own ice it wasn't enough. By the time it was 2 minutes into the second Ottawa was already up 2 goals to none which is a large mountain to overcome when Ottawa Goalie Bishop Van Apeldoorn is having such an amazing night.

Game 2 Maine again outshot Ottawa. This time 42 to 28. Despite this massive deficit Ottawa goalie Bishop Van Apeldoorn only allowed two goals the whole game. Things were getting dire. The series was heading to Ottawa and Maine was down 2 games and it was very clear that this series wasn't just against Ottawa, it was against a goalie standing on their head.

Game 3 was practically a must win game for Maine and it went down as a game for the ages. Edoaurd Lavoie posted 2 goals and an assist while Jean-Jacques Francois had a goal, an assist, and 4 hits, and 1 take away. This was enough to get Maine to 5 goals which was a welcome relief from the first two games but sadly Maine Goalie Shotty McStopper's trouble in net continued and Ottawa scored 5 goals. However just 17 seconds into overtime Kobe Frobe would score the game winning goal and get Maine on the board. The series was back on.

In Game 4 Maine would route Ottawa 5 to 1 and send the series back to Maine with Maine in the driver's seat. All appeared well.

Game 5 was a big dissapointment. Despite Maine putting 48 shots on goal they only managed to score 3 goals while Ottawa scored 4 on 27 shots. There was just this feeling in the building that Maine was giving 100% of what they had and it just didn't seem to be enough to get over the mountain.

Game 6 in Ottawa wasn't very special. Ottawa won 3-0 in a shut out. Maine was sloggy and slow on the ice and it just looked like they'd been expecting to lose. It was a crushing night for their fans and completely unexpected before the series had taken place.

***MikeLiut*** · 07-23-2024, 05:21 PM

Come on, @Sopath , it still hurts. :(

*CptSquall* · 07-27-2024, 11:55 AM

Approved @Sopath

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