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***Seany148*** · 04-27-2023, 08:08 PM

With the first round done, what better way to celebrate those who won and lost than to recap the games! Let’s go!

GAME 1

This series was between the 2nd last team, Anchorage, with an impressive 39 points in 66 games, and the 5th place Grizzlies, with a lead of over 40 points. So, everyone expected a clear statement from Great Falls in the first game and they did exactly that… by letting in 2 goals in the first period. Daniel Grumathan scored the first goal of the S70 J playoffs, on Anchorage’s rather weak powerplay, and Johnny Shuffleboard doubled the lead 10 minutes later. In the first half of the period, Grumathan added insult to injury by netting himself his second of the night, with an answer from Great Falls’ James Dion not too long after. Everyone was shocked. Anchorage was heading to the 3rd period with a 3-1 lead on the Grizzlies! And they added another one, before Dion quickly scored to make it a 2 goal game, trying his best to keep it close. Fortunately for the boats, even a late goal from Tiberius Kane wasn’t enough to sink the surprising battleships as they took game 1, 4-3. In the loss, Kyle Latreille was everywhere, passing to the scorer on all 3 goals to get himself a trio of apples, while both Grumathan and Dion got a pair of goals.

GAME 2

After a surprisingly strong game, the Armada hoped to be in their opponent’s head. Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the case, as a quick turnover caused Loosh O’Sullivan to fly away on the penalty kill, putting one past George Walsh to give an early lead to Great Falls. However, Grumathan, game 1’s general for the boats, was not going to let that slide. As Anchorage controlled the puck in the Grizzlies’ zone, a cross pass from Tony Soprano found his stick and Daniel quickly shot. Bandit Heeler didn't even move and just like that, the game was tied. As both teams headed to their respective locker rooms for the first intermission, Oskar Scholz chirped Kane with some comments about how bad the Grizzlies were. Well I got news for you, don’t mock a scoring winger, because he might give his team the lead 5 minutes into the 2nd period with a powerplay goal. A loose puck behind Armada’s net caused by a misunderstanding between goaltender Walsh and rookie forward Finn Weiβ (if that isn’t the right B I’m gonna sue someone) led to a tic-tac-toe with Latreille barely burying the puck past the red line. The Grizzlies were angry, and they were leading 3-1, just like Anchorage in game 1. Both teams played safe, with no penalties in the 3rd and a single goal in an empty net scored by O’Sullivan. The series was now tied 1-1.

GAME 3

As game 3 started, fans could still notice a tension between Oskar Scholz and Tiberius Kane. It became so intense that some slashes were exchanged between the two superstars, until Scholz (kind of) realized his dream of playing for the Timber by swinging his stick like an axe on Kane’s hip, right in front of the referee. The whistle blew and to the penalty box went the German. As if it was scripted, Kane sent an incredible pass to Dion, alone on the left side, and a somewhat missed shot made its way between the legs of a confused Walsh. As Scholz walked out of the box, his rival blew him a kiss and a fight almost broke out. Exactly 12 seconds later, a hail mary from Regazzoni to Oskar caused a 2 on 0, and as Scholz faked a shot, he turned around, did a no-look pass to Weiβ and blew a kiss to a powerless Kane at the blueline, as Weiβ ALMOST missed an open net. Thankfully for Scholz’s planned revenge, the game was now tied 1-1. The crowd only had to wait 2 more minutes until O’Sullivan caused the boats to trail by one with a near perfect top corner “shnipe”. Near the end of the first though, Grumathan tied the game in a 2nd consecutive game, and both teams went to the locker room. 6 minutes into the second, MASSIVE play by Andre Latreille who gets tripped but still feeds it to Weber as a slapshot follows while there’s a delayed penalty. The initial shot is stopped by George Walsh but O’Sullivan, placed near the net, gets a piece of the rebound with a backhand shot over the goalie’s shoulder. Anchorage’s arena is now silent. 2 minutes later, the crowd is celebrating! Gnabe Dabson ties it and it’s 3-3 after 30 minutes of play! Despite Otasrob taking a dumb penalty later in the 2nd, Great Falls’ powerplay cannot capitalize and no other goal is scored during this period. As the 3rd period starts, Dion wins the faceoff and passes it to Pork Tenderloin, the Grizzlies’ general at the blueline, who enters the zone with the puck. Kyle Latreille gets in front of the goalie, as Dion gets it back and passes towards the left faceoff point in Anchorage’s zone, where Tiberius Kane is. But the player getting the puck isn’t Kane, but Georg N’Zola! Directly, he passes it to Grumathan, who spots Tony Soprano for a breakaway. He shoots… AND HE SCORES! The Armada takes the lead! Kyle Latreille brings everyone back to the first step by tying it up, but N’Zola scores the game winner a few minutes later as Anchorage now leads the series 2-1 with a 5 to 4 win. What a crazy turn of events!

GAME 4

One false step from the Grizzlies and they might be K.O. in this game. Which is why they scored the first goal late in the first, to ensure momentum couldn't be built on Anchorage’s side!.... I think? Anyways, that wasn’t a very interesting period, with Latreille scoring the 1st goal on the powerplay unit and… that’s it. The second period, however, had some spice. N’Zola, for whatever reason, did not like Kyle Latreille’s attitude and decided to do something about it, as a dangerous high stick went COMPLETELY unnoticed by referees. Meanwhile, Scholz scores! Or so he thinks, as Weiβ appears to touch the puck higher than it is permitted to. So at the end of this crazy part of the game, it’s still 1-0 Great Falls… And then came the 30th minute. Ox takes a shot, it deflects on O’Sullivan’s stick, and it somehow ends up behind Walsh! A simple mistake, some would say, but O’Sullivan gets another one just 30 seconds later! The Armada is in shambles, losing 3-0 after 2! And 4 minutes and 20 seconds, it doesn't get better, as Pork Tenderloin scores a 4th unanswered goal with a powerful slapshot. Finn Weiβ gets one back, but with 4 minutes left, there is not enough time to build momentum around the rookie’s goal. Final score: 4-1, and we have a tied series after 4 games!

GAME 5

Another quick recap as not much happened other than one team dominating. Great Falls’ Michael Cordero broke the 0-0 tie after 13:13, proving 13 to actually be lucky, with Basham and Kane getting the assists on the goal. Early in the second, it is again Grumathan’s role to balance things out with another great snipe. But, disaster strikes as Grumathan is hit in the back after the goal, and he heads back to the locker room, confused. No penalty was called on the play. At Anchorage’s bench, no one says it, but everyone knows it: he won’t be back for the rest of the game. And with their best forward in the series out, Anchorage looks like the lost team they were in regular season, as Levin Schattenaxt retrieves a loose puck in front of the net to give back a 1 goal lead to the Grizzlies, late in the 2nd. Schattenaxt continues his solid night by feeding Joshua Weber for an early third period goal. The game is now 3-1, and with almost no opposition, James Dion scores 2 goals in the 3rd period to boost his own ego. Final: 5-1, and Anchorage can now be eliminated.

GAME 6

I HAVE A QUESTION. WHY DID THEY START WITH THE INTERESTING GAMES??? Anyways, game 6 starts and the energy level is high from the battleships, with a VERY early goal from N’Zola, burying the puck over Bandit Heeler’s blocker after a perfect pass from a still shaken up Daniel Grumathan. Unfortunately for the Armada, Dion wanted to score in a consecutive game, as he ties it at the 5th minute mark. Even worse for Anchorage, Marquise Hill seemingly appears out of thin air, gets the puck, does a spinorama and scores the possible goal of this series with an insane backhand shot. The middle period was host to only one goal, this time a weak shot from Hill (again) that beat George Walsh from an impossible angle. An immediate follow up as 3rd period starts almost means the end of Anchorage, as Dave Richardson scores after less than 2 minutes, but the Swiss and/or French superstar Georg N’Zola gets his 2nd of the game to keep it a 2 goal game with a bit over 10 minutes left. Alas, Richardson’s 2nd of the game, with 4 minutes left, cuts the Armada’s lifeline for good. Overall though, no one can say they’re disappointed by Anchorage. They played surprisingly well for the 2nd to last team this year, against a powerful rival, and definitely scared Great Falls. In the end though, they let the Grizzlies shoot too many pucks on the net and they didn’t have a good enough offensive to balance out the lack of defense.

(Not counted in word count) Sorry if this feels rushed towards the end, I wanted to get it done before round 2 and something came up so I had to speedrun it </3

1628 words!?!?!!?!!

spidey · 04-27-2023, 11:36 PM

Best of luck in round 2!

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 04-28-2023, 01:08 AM

Writing machine

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