The SMJHL playoffs are well underway, and some of the series in the first round have already concluded - meaning that, for some of the teams who made it to the playoffs, their season is now over and all they can do is focus on the future. One of these teams is the Anchorage Armada, who fell in a 6 game series to the Regina Elk. Coming into the series, it was expected to be a fairly close matchup. At the end of the regular season, the two teams were sitting right next to each other in the standings - the Elk in 8th, with 69 points (nice) and the Armada just behind them in 9th, with 65 points. In fact, the two teams actually have the same amount of regular season wins, with 31 each, however Regina had more OT losses, putting them a few points ahead. The two teams are very similar in terms of player age as well, both having a few SMJHL vets, but mostly younger players from the S71 and S72 classes. Now for the breakdown of how things went.

GAME 1

REG 4-7 ANC

Anchorage came into the playoffs swinging, absolutely dominating the first period with 4 goals - Dan Johnston opened the scoring for the Boats, with Johnny Shuffleboard following it up with another goal just 26 seconds later and Joseph Reed proceeding to score two more. Halfway through the game, Regina started mounting somewhat of a comeback, with goals by Mercedes Bayle and Willow Soderberg-Snooks, but the momentum was killed off as Georg N'Zola made it 5-2 for the Armada. Johnny Shuffleboard scored his 2nd of the game just 9 seconds into the 3rd period to bring back Anchorage's 4 goal lead. e e managed to score two goals for themselves, however Barg Hazbite also scored one to make sure the Elk couldn't get anywhere close to a succesful comeback.

3 stars of the game:
* Johnny Shuffleboard (ANC, 2G/2A)
** Barg Hazbite (ANC, 1G/2A)
*** Kazuchika Okada (ANC, 0G/3A)

GAME 2

REG 5-2 ANC

Game 2 showed that the Elk were far from being out of it. Period 1 actually wasn't all that eventful - until Anchorage's Tony Soprano took a Slashing penalty with 15 seconds left in the period, and Regina's regular season leading scorer Gritty McGritterson capitalised on it immediately, scoring the opening goal with just 2 seconds to go in the period. The Armada showed plenty of tenacity in the 2nd, as they actually came back to take the lead - Tony Soprano scored to make up for his previous mistake, quickly followed up by a goal from Gnabe Dabson to make the score 2-1 Anchorage. This was clearly frustrating for the Elk, as Mercedes Bayle took an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty just a couple minutes later. Heading into the 3rd period though, we saw a huge turn around from Regina, lead by none other than Gritty McGritterson, who scored two goals just a couple minutes apart to regain the lead and secure his hat-trick. Two more goals from Regina followed, with rookies Rowan O'Beirne and Austin Sorley scoring their first ever playoff goals to seal the game and tie the series at 1.

* Gritty McGritterson (REG, 3G/0A)
** Jae Hyuk Choi (REG, 0G/2A)
*** e e (REG, 0G/2A)

GAME 3

ANC 5-2 REG

Heading to Anchorage for game 3, the series kept going back and forth. Period 1 ended with the teams even, with Johnny Shuffleboard scoring the first goal for Anchorage and Ana Parast tying the game late in the period. The Armada came alive in the second, with three goals - Georg N'Zola near the beginning of the period, Oskar Scholz later on and Joseph Reed then making it 4-1 with just a few seconds remaining. In a difficult situation, Regina tried to rally for a comeback, with Jae Hyuk Choi reducing the gap to two goals, however they couldn't pull it any closer, and Daniel Grumathan sealed the game with an empty net goal at the end.

* Daniel Grumathan (ANC, 1G/1A)
** Johnny Shuffleboard (ANC, 1G/1A)
*** Joseph Reed (ANC, 1G/1A)

GAME 4

ANC 0-3 REG

This game was oddly calm to start off - and when I say that, I mean that the summary for period 1 is literally empty. Nothing happened. No goals, not even any penalties. The second period saw some penalties, but nothing came of any of them - no goals, still. In the third, however, one of the teams found that finishing touch they needed to start getting pucks into the net. That team was Regina. Austin Morley, Olivers Ozols and Adrians Skalbergs scored 3 goals to claim the game for the Elk and tie the series once again.

* Ally Mathieson (REG, 29 saves, 1.000 SV%)
** Olivers Ozols (REG, 1G/1A)
*** e e (REG, 0G/2A)

GAME 5

REG 4-3 ANC

We return to Regina for game 5 of the series. Period 1 was quite uneventful for the most part, as it was 0-0 up until almost the very end where Kazuchika Okada scored the opening goal to give the lead to the Armada. The second period, however, was when things exploded. 6 goals were scored within a span of 15 minutes. Rowan O'Beirne kicked things off to tie the game, and 3 minutes later Mercedes Bayle put the home team into the lead. Olivers Ozols scored a third goal for the Elk, but the Armada were quick to mount their comeback - as 15 seconds later, Finn Weiss made it 3-2, and a few more minutes later, Tony Soprano sent it into the back of the net, tying the game. That happiness was short-lived for Anchorage though, as seconds later Jae Hyuk Choi scored to restore Regina's lead. The Elk managed to hold on through the 3rd period, keeping it clean and keeping the puck out of their net, taking the win and the series lead.

* Rowan O'Beirne (REG, 1G/1A)
** Finn Weiss (ANC, 1G/0A)
*** Willow Soderberg-Snooks (REG, 0G/2A)

GAME 6

ANC 1-4 REG

The teams headed back to Anchorage for the pivotal game 6. The series score at 3-2, a win for Regina would secure them the series win. From the beginning of the match, it was very clear that the Elk understood this and were laying on the pressure - opening the scoring less than 3 minutes in with a goal from Rowan O'Beirne. Adrians Skalbergs put the away side up 2-0 halfway through the 1st period. Regina started hot again coming into the 2nd period, with an early goal from Gritty McGritterson putting them 3-0 up. Anchorage were bombarding the net, but the Elk weren't cracking, and as we headed into the 2nd intermission with Regina still holding a 3-0 lead, dread started to fill the Sullivan Center. It didn't get much better in the 3rd period, as 4 minutes in Austin Morley scored a 4th goal for Regina. With 9 minutes remaining, Georg N'Zola managed to finally break through to make it 4-1, but it was too late at that point, the home crowd had already started emptying the arena. As the final buzzer sounded, the score was 4-1 to the Elk, and Anchorage fell silent as the Boats had been sunk and eliminated from the playoffs, meanwhile the Elk celebrated and headed off to face the Yukon Malamutes in the next round.

* Austin Morley (REG, 1G/1A)
** Ally Mathieson (REG, 35 saves, .972 SV%)
*** Adrians Skalbergs (REG, 1G/0A)

Series MVP: My choice for series MVP is Gritty McGritterson. 8 points in the series, 4 goals and 4 assists, McGritterson put on a strong offensive performance. The highlight here is definitely game 2 - without his hat-trick, the Elk don't win that game, and potentially end up 0-3 down in that series.

SINK BOATS :D

sig by me (:

Kezia MacKenzie - LW - Regina Elk - Atlanta Inferno

Approved, +5 TPE to @"Ashes"

credit to Flappy, ToeDragon, and Carpy