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TheOPSquid · 01-18-2024, 01:02 PM

SMJHL Finals Recap

Detroit Falcons vs Colorado Raptors Raptors

Result: Detroit Falcons win in 7 games Falcons

SKREEEEE vs G O C O L O R A D O

The Colorado Raptors faced off with their younger ancestors the Detroit Falcons in this season's Four Star Cup Final. The Raptors come into this series fresh off of beating last season's championship winning Maine Timber, a series that spanned 6 games that saw Maine take a 2-0 series lead. However, Colorado would go on to win 4 straight games thanks in part to a high powered offense and Tanner Pitts posting a .930 save percentage in 3 of his 5 starts.

The Detroit Falcons enter this series after upsetting the Quebec City Citadelles, the #1 ranked team and many people's cup favourites who dispatched the Armada in 5 games. After heading into the series with a bit of media chirping between the two teams and a post by Quebec, Detroit must have pinned the post to the board in the locker room as they convincingly eliminated the Citadelles in 6 games. Detroit's depth and ability to shutdown offense was on full display here, and having a goaltender like Wayne Holloway helped a ton as he posted a .90 save percentage and allowed only 16 goals in the series.

Game 1 started off fairly even with James MacAvoy opening up the scoring for Colorado halfway through the first period on an unassisted goal. Teemu Salami wouldn't let Colorado have the lead for long as the rookie winger tallied his fifth goal of the playoffs with a snipe 3:45 later off of a feed from Jimothee Penjiman and Zedward Zilliams. Connor Ray chipped in with his first goal of the postseason 5 minutes later, with the assists going to Kekkonen and Lee. Refusing to go down into the first intermission, Supreme Dalek would tie the game up with 21 seconds remaining in the first period. After killing off an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Leonard Wood 55 seconds into the second period, Colorado would head to the powerplay after Kekkonen tripped Shadow Fenix. Valerija Serapin would score on the ensuing powerplay for Colorado, as the defender would score their second goal of the playoffs to take the 3-2 lead. Shadow Fenix would extend the lead to 2 goals, with 28 seconds left in the second period. Elite left winger COLBOT1 would tally Colorado's 5th goal with a goal 3:29 into the third period as Colorado would clinch up game 1. Between the pipes, Tanner Pitts put up 23 saves on 25 shots for a .920 save percentage to earn his 12th win of the playoffs.

Game 2 would see Colorado outshoot Detroit 35-25, the exact same margin as game 1. An exciting game would see 9 powerplays and 10 goals scored as Colorado would take this one 6-4. James MacAvoy opened the scoring for Colorado yet again, tallying his 10th goal of the playoffs 4 minutes in to take the lead. MacAvoy was feeling ambitious in this one and got an assist on Andrade La Sombra's goal 3 minutes later. MacAvoy then went out and scored his 2nd of the game and 11th of the playoffs 4 minutes later to take the 3-0 lead early. Zedward Zilliams stepped up for Detroit though, scoring 40 seconds later off of a rebound from Conner Ray with Luma Lee getting the secondary assist. Heading into the second period down 3-1, Detroit would go on the powerplay as James MacAvoy took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty 6:46 into the frame. It would only take 5 seconds for The Murray to capitalize on the powerplay, with Lahey winning the draw to Morgonstjarna who would find Murray for a wide open one timer. Shadow Fenix would end up pushing Colorado ahead by 2, scoring with 3 minutes left in the second period to make it 4-2. Detroit's Mephistopheles Morgonstjarna would have to serve a bench minor for too many men, called with 45 seconds left in the period. 35 seconds into the third period, Jussi Mutou would tally a powerplay goal that Serapin and COLBOT2 assisted on. Mutou's goal would stand as the game winner as Detroit tried hard to tie it up late. Marek Carda scored his 4th goal of the postseason with 1:35 left to play in the third, and would get an assist on Morgonstjarna's goal with 1:02 left in the third period to pull within 1 goal. However, rookie Pinli Switchbang would score an empty net goal with 28 seconds left in order to take away Detroit's chance of tying it up as Colorado takes a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 was a big game for the Falcons as they tried to shake the series up and not allow Colorado to gain a dominant 3-0 series lead. After going down 1-0 early on, Detroit stormed back to win 6-1. Rookie Pinli Switchbang tallied the lone Raptors goal 10 minutes into the first period to take the lead early, in which Trevor Lahey would respond with the tying goal 11 minutes into the second period. Teemu Salami would combine with Marek Carda as Salami scored twice in two minutes with boat being assisted by Carda. Lahey would get his second goal with only 2 seconds left in the period to increase the score to 4-1. Unlike the Maple Leafs, Detroit would hold onto the 4-1 3rd period lead and Marek Carda would add his third assist and first goal of the game to hit 4 points in this game as Detroit takes down Colorado. Just like most games, Holloway stood on his head, turning away 34 shots and putting up a strong .970 save percentage as Detroit shows they are down but not out of this series.

Game 4 would see the Falcons earn the first shutout of the series to tie the series at 2 a piece, as Holloway faced 18 saves and allowed a big 0 goals. The score would sit at 0-0 for the majority of the game, with both teams going 0/2 on the powerplay. Dunkler Sowerwine scored the only 5 on 5 goal in the game, scoring late with 10:35 to go in the game. AEric Calland would put the dagger into the empty net with 20 seconds left off a set up from Salami and Carda yet again.

Game 5 was a higher scoring affair, finishing in a 6-5 Colorado win as they stopped sliding and retook the series lead 3-2, pushing the Detroit Falcons to the brink of elimination. Colorado established their lead early, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the first period. Wiseman, MacAvoy and Mutou each scored once in the first period. Teemu Salami would score a minute into the second period to pull Colorado within 2 goals. But after Pinli Switchbang scored a brace in the next 4 minutes, Colorado would be up 5-1. The Murray would score for Detroit with 12 minutes to go in the second period and it would ignite a Detroit comeback. In the third Tomlander and Sowerwine would score first to pull the game within reach for the Falcons, but Leonard Wood wood re-establish the 2 goal lead for Colorado with a goal with 3 minutes left. Lahey would pot another goal to make it 5-6, but too little too late for Detroit as the Raptors win this one.

Game 6 would be the first elimination game of the series as the Falcons would have their backs pushed against the wall. They would respond and push back though, winning 5-2 to force a game 7 in the finals. Trevor Lahey has come alive in the finals, after scoring 2 points in the first 10 playoff games Lahey would score 2 goals in this one to get his 7th point in the 6 games of the finals so far. Lahey opened the scoring with a goal 8 minutes in, with Shadow Fenix scoring to tie it with 25 seconds left in the first. The Murray would get the go ahead goal for Detroit with 7 minutes left to go in the second period, but Trevor Lahey's second goal just 3 minutes later would stand as the game winner. After an early third period goal by Oranj Konhe to make it 3-2, Tomlander and Sowerwine would extend the Falcon's lead to 5-2 and force a game 7. Wayne Holloway would make 23 saves and post a .920 save percentage in this one to help his squad stave off elimination.

Game 7 would be the epic conclusion of this finals matchup between the Detroit Falcons and Colorado Raptors, a back and forth series that saw Colorado go up 2-0, then 2-2, now sitting at 3-3. This game would start off strong for Detroit, with The Murray scoring 2 minutes in off of a feed from Lahey and Marius to take an early first period lead. Supreme Dalek would tie it up 9 minutes into the period though, with MacAvoy sneaking a pass across to Dalek who buries it backdoor. Rookie Pinli Switchbang would be sent to the box for Colorado early in the second period, but Colorado would go on the man advantage after killing it off easily. Another Colorado penalty at the 9:50 mark of the second period would see Leonard Wood being escorted to the box for hooking. After a set play by Detroit, Lahey would tie the draw up with Carda picking up the puck and sending it to Prince Marius who hammers home a one-timer for the game's first powerplay goal. Marius's next shift would come 5 minutes later and after a pass from the point by Imotekh, Marius would fire a far side shot past Tanner Pitts to take the second period lead 3-1. Heading into the second intermission down 3-1, Colorado would have to push pretty hard in order to come back in this one. After a scrum in the corner between Detroit's Simo Jaaskelainen and Colorado's Valerija Serapin, Serapin would be the only one heading to the box to serve a 2 minute Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty. This powerplay was a prime opportunity for Detroit to put the game out of reach but it would end up being the opposite with a Colorado set play resulting in a shorthanded goal. Shadow Fenix won the draw from the right side of the net back to Leonard Wood, who after firing it around the net hit a streaking Nick Kodiak to send him on a breakaway in which he made no mistake and potted a breakaway goal shorthanded. Detroit was not deterred with this though, as Will Tomlander would receive a breakout pass from Zedward Zilliams to send him on a 2 on 1 with Kenny Omega, after a quick back and forth pass, Omega deposited the puck just over the blocker of Tanner Pitts to take the 2 goal lead with only 6 minutes standing between the Falcons and the Cup. Jussi Mutou would force a turnover at their blue line and create their own breakaway, electing to beat Holloway with a quick snap shot to pull Colorado within 1 goal with a minute left. After playing keep away for the final minute though, Detroit would emerge from the series victorious with a 4-3 win in game 7. Wayne Holloway put up 32 saves and a .910 save percentage in the 7th game as Detroit hoisted the cup.

Detroit would have multiple players step up in the final series, especially Marek Carda, Teemu Salami, Trevor Lahey and Wayne Holloway. Marek Carda and Trevor Lahey each had 9 points in the final round, and Salami put up a point per game in the playoffs after his finals performance. However Wayne Holloway was the main story in this series and the majority of Detroit's playoff run, allowing only 9 goals in the sweep of Yukon with a .921 save percentage in the 4 games. Facing off against Quebec, Holloway allowed 16 goals but had a .901 save percentage in the 6 game series and only allowed 4+ goals twice. Holloway had a rough go in the first 2 games of the finals, allowing 11 goals and a .84 save percentage but would go on to allow only 12 goals in the next 5 games combined and posting a .923 save percentage and making 145 saves.

Congratulations to the Detroit Falcons on winning the Four Star Cup for Season 74! An impressive run saw them pull off a sweep, an upset of the #1 seed, and a 0-2 comeback in the finals!

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