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[DOUBLE PLAYOFFS] Armada v Citadelles: Four Years of Clashes
#1
(This post was last modified: 02-14-2022, 03:55 AM by Valpix.)

When I signed with Quebec City midseason, my nature took me to the team history section pretty quickly. If there's one thing I love more about sports themselves, it's the stories they have to tell. It was in that section where I quickly noticed something.

Season 57 through Season 60. Four years in a row, the Citadelles battled the Anchorage Armada in the postseason. 

This required further digging from me. The best kinds of rivalries, in my personal opinion, come from competing head to head. Geographic bragging rights are nice and all, but you're kidding yourself if you wouldn't rather hoist a league trophy after a tough rivalry win. Many of the best rivalries in sports come from these types of high-stakes showdowns. Lakers-Celtics. Real Madrid-Barcelona. Stuff like that. Win the rivalry and you have something to show for it forever. Lose it and you're staring at a vacancy in your trophy cabinet, wondering what could have been, made even more painful by seeing those other guys celebrating out there on the field of battle.

It's kinda fitting, then, that through my first few weeks in Quebec City, we were in a familiar spot, cheering against Anchorage and for ourselves. If our game was done, we had one eye on the Armada score. Now granted, this time it wasn't postseason progression or trophies on the line, but rather a playoff spot. But that's beside the point. The point is, there were stakes. Even though these teams are both rebuilding, we still find a way to be connected, almost as if by magnetism.

So. How did we get here? Four years in a row of playoff matchups, and now going toe-to-toe for a ticket to the dance? Especially because, on paper, these two teams are...quite different, to say the least.

Before looking at the matchups, you gotta realize one thing: these two teams have vastly different histories. The Armada have been a member of the SMJHL since the very beginning, Season 1, though this is their third name. That club, according to their history page, was originally founded as the Prince George Firebirds way back when, and spent their first 17 seasons playing out of northern BC. They then relocated to Regina for six years as the Force before becoming the Armada for S25. By the time the Citadelles joined the league, the Firebirds/Pride/Armada franchise had won four Four Star Cups, and had come very close on a few more occasions.

Quebec City, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer to SMJHL, having joined the league in Season 55. After some teething problems for the owls in their first two seasons (middling records and short playoff stays), the team took flight in S57, topping the SMJHL with 49 wins and 107 points. And that's where the story begins.

These two teams finished 1-2 in the S57 standings, and not by a little. QC rode the league's best offense, led by scoring champ Zdenko Beranek, to the top seed. Fifteen points behind them, Anchorage showcased a stalwart defense, conceding the league's fewest goals and backed by a .920 SV% by Chimkin Tendy. These two teams were by far and away the class of the league, and many anticipated their duel in the league semifinals.

Both teams received first round byes, and the Armada swept the St. Louis Scarecrows fairly easily; the Boats gave up just 4 goals in the entire series. Out east, the Cits hit some turbulence early on against the league's worst regular season team. Newfoundland had proven to be no slouches, upsetting the heavily favored Maine Timber, and managed to nick a couple games off QC before losing in six. That set up the much-awaited showdown, and oh boy did it live up to the hype.

The Cits defended their home ice in Game 1 with a 3-2 win, but Anchorage fired back with a 5-2 win in Game 2; the series headed to Alaska tied at 1 and with the Armada playing 3 of those at home. In the Last Frontier, the Boats held serve with a 4-2 win in Game 3, setting up a Game 4 that was absolutely crucial. If QC won, they snag home ice in the series back; with an Armada win, Anchorage would have them on the ropes.

The ropes would have to wait, as QC trotted out 3-1 winners, taking home ice with them. And now it was the Armada on the ropes, following a 6-3 Game 5 win, thanks to two goals by Igor Petrov. The series was back in Alaska, and unlike last time, it was Anchorage who sorely needed a win. The game entered OT, and the stakes only got higher...a QC goal and it was all over, an Anchorage goal and we're headed back to French Canada with the Boats having momentum. Anchorage prevailed, and QC returned home deflated for Game 7 as the Armada cruised to a 4-1 win. In the finals, the Anaheim Outlaws were no match for Anchorage, who walloped them in five to claim Four Star Cup #5 for the franchise. It was a classic series, and fans wanted an encore.

And they'd get it, in the S58 final, though this time a little bit different. QC was once again a top-2 team in the league and got the first round bye, but Anchorage dipped a few spots to fifth in the league. Temdy had been great for the Boats again, but the offense that was so potent in S57 was nowhere near as effective. 

We almost didn't get this matchup, either; while Anchorage beat St. Louis, Detroit, and Newfoundland pretty smoothly, QC lost games 4 and 5 to Colorado and fell behind 3-2 in the league quarterfinal. But a pair of 4-1 wins got them the seven game win, and they crushed league-toppers Kelowna in 5 to set up the showdown.

This time though, things were different. This QC team was on a mission, and that mission was payback. Two 4-1 wins at home, followed by a Game 3 shutout by Mat Smith put Anchorage in a 3-0 hole, and though they avoided the sweep with a Game 4 OT win, it wasn't happening this year. The Citadelles came home and sunk the ships 6-0, with Smith stopping 27, for their first and to date only Four Star Cup.

But the best matchups tend to come in threes. Quebec City had won one, Anchorage had won one, who was gonna break the tie?

S59 saw the two teams flip standings spots. QC dropped to fifth after some SHL graduations, while Anchorage finished second behind the Knights. And after QC dropped their first two games at home in the first round to St. Louis, it looked like the trilogy was going to be put on hold. But the Citadelles rallied, winning 4 of 5 and overcoming a 3-1 series deficit. They harnessed that momentum in a second round five game win over Detroit. Elsewhere, Anchorage had dropped just one game in the first two rounds, and we would have the third installment of this matchup in the semifinals.

This time, it was Anchorage that opened up a 3-0 series lead, taking both games in Alaska and winning Game 3 at Videotron Centre. They jumped out to a 2-0 Game 4 lead, and it looked like the brooms were gonna be waving.

But the Citadelles kindly told them to put those brooms back in the closet, scoring three unanswered to stave off elimination, then shutting the Boats out 3-0 in Alaska. Suddenly, the series was 3-2 and headed back to Quebec City with the Citadelles holding the momentum. 

Game 6 was tense and close. But in the end, the Armada got the extra third period goal they needed to take the series and advance to the Four Star Cup final, where they would be downed in 5 by Kelowna.

The teams would once again meet in the S60 semifinals, but like most good trilogies, a fourth was flatly uninteresting and unnecessary. True, Anchorage and Quebec City were 3-4 in the standings, but 17 points separated them as the top 3 of Newfoundland, Vancouver, and the Armada were just on a different level. Now, granted, the boats almost didn't make it that far, needing to overcome a 3-1 deficit to avoid being upset by Colorado in the quarters, but this semifinal was an anticlimactic sweep, four games, most of them uninteresting.

And that's where the story of this quadruple matchup ends. Both teams did make the playoffs in S61 and S62, but the Newfoundland Berserkers knocked the Armada out early in S61, and a rebuilding Citadelles team was knocked out at the first hurdle in S63 by Colorado. And while these teams did battle for high stakes this year, it wasn't in a playoff battle, but rather for that one last ticket to the main event - the main even this matchup used to be.

What's the future of this matchup? Was it just a brief blip, lightning in a bottle type thing, like the Red Wings and Avalanche? Or will these two teams square off on the big stage again some day soon?

[Word count: 1579 / also first media submission so 2x? is that how that works?]

[Image: valpix.gif]
Thanks to @Ragnar, @Symmetrik, @Merica, @enigmatic, and @sulovilen for the sigs! 
Avi courtesy of @MN_Moosey
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Citadelles Switzerland Stars Blizzard 
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[Image: valpixpride.gif]
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#2

@Valpix hell yeah lets go QCC themed media \o/

Also, as this is already a x2 playoff media, it doesnt 'take' your x2 first media, so you will still be able to use that one in a non themed media later on.

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