The conference semifinals of the SMJHL prospect tourney has wrapped up with the Blazers, Wranglers, Stingrays and Lions moving on.

The Wranglers were the first to move on with two high scoring matches against the Outlaws. Star of the first game, Tatu Laitinen, racked up 6 points in the matchup (1 G, 5 A) while goalie Casimir Stevens and the top defensive duo of Kalevi Karhunen and Bill Umberger never gave the Outlaws a chance at a lead. The Wranglers balanced offense gave Outlaw goalie Mike Hunt fits as he finished with 58 saves on 70 shots for a 82.9% save percentage.

The Majors and Blazers had a wide open match up with the games see-sawing both ways. In game 1 the Majors put 50 shots on goal but Aleksi O'Koivu-Volkova saved 46 to bail out his defense for the win. On the offensive side Borromini Cannellini carried the day with two goals and an assist. In game two the Majors finally cracked the ice-cold veneer of O'Koivu-Volkova and won by a convincing 3-5 score. The Blazers, though, couldn't be denied as they rallied for a game 3 win to move onto the next round.

The Lions came into the playoffs as the top seed and carried their exemplary play into game one against the Vipers. Firing 49 shots on target the Lions, led by William Dougherty two goals, were relentless in the pursuit of their prey. While the Vipers struck hard early on they were ground down by the mighty paws of the jungle kings. In game two defense and goaltending took a back seat as the Vipers quickly struck out a 4-1 lead in the first period. The Lions staked a comeback in the 3rd but were stymied by the Vipers defense led by Guy Zheng's assist and 4 blocked shots. Game 3 showed why the Lions were the top seed as they roared back against a cornered Viper team to take the seriers.

Stingray goalie Jakub Hasek was the story of Game 1 between the Stingrays and the Bighorns as he was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 17 shots. While the backup performed admirably the 3 goal flurry in the 3rd wasn't enough to bring the Stingray's to victory. Maximilian Williamson had the game of his life as the top 4 Stingray defender scored 2 huge goals and added an assist. Fortunately for the Stingrays Jakub Hasek came to play in game 2 and finished with a sterling 93.9% save percentage to help the Stingrays to victory. First line center Barry Batsbak buried the puck for the game winning goal in the 3rd to tie up the series. They carried that momentum onto game 3 to move onto the next round versus the Lions.

In the conference finals it will be the Blazers vs the Wranglers and the Stingrays vs the Lions. A lot is riding on the performance of the goalies as the Blazer's Aleksi O'Koivu-Volkova and Stingray's Jakub Hasek may have to stand on their heads to move their teams to the finals.

   

 

Feels bad man coulda at least showed the wildcard game we won :(

Feels bad man coulda at least showed the wildcard game we won :(

Sorry man there's so much detail you could go into, but I was just trying to focus on the semifinal round

   

 

Feels bad man coulda at least showed the wildcard game we won :(

Sorry man there's so much detail you could go into, but I was just trying to focus on the semifinal round

Feelsbadman I know is okay

I didn't want to update the post just in case the posting date mattered, but its got a 509 word count and it was during the first 2x week