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Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 10:06 AM

THE FALCON'S WING

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final S24 issue of The Falcon's Wing. We've got a special issue for you today. Rather than taking a look at the playoffs on the whole, we're going to specifically look at what happened in the Eastern Conference Finals, between the Montreal Impact and the Detroit Falcons.

We're going to break down the Falcons' performance in their seven games in the second round against the Impact as we take a look at the Falcons' playoffs in review.

Then we'll move onwards and grade the Falcons performance in the post-season in our Falcons' Report Card.

And we're going to round out our coverage by breaking down the SMJHL finals, and talk about who we think will skate away with the Four Star Cup at the end of the post-season.

At the end of our article today, we're going to talk about the Falcons' High Flyer of the playoffs!

Now, let's get things started with the Falcons' playoffs in review!

THE PLAYOFFS IN REVIEW
Round Two vs Montreal Impact

Well, the Falcons only played in one round as they were able to secure the bye due to their performance during the regular season. It was an impressive job on the part of the Falcons, but unfortunately they fell short of the mark when it came to playoff performance. Let's take a look at each game the team played in round two, and see what might have happened.

Falcons

GAME ONE:

This game was a textbook example of how the Detroit Falcons like to play the sport of hockey. They shoot hard, they shoot often, and they do it while severely lacking in discipline. The game started out with Detroit scoring the game's first goal just thirty seconds into play. Bjorn Knutsen gave it to Brandon Girard, who passed it back up to Michael Burch for the Falcons first post-season goal. Rather than sitting back and letting things happen after that, they did it again when Barney Tuzis scored about a minute later, with assists credited to Tim Tebow and Yorgen Bartenberry. Think the Falcons decided to take it easy after that? Because they didn't. Just two minutes after the last goal, Jasper Clayton passed it to Tim Tebow, who ripped one from the point that was tipped in front by Kaapo Kekkonen to extend the Falcons lead to three while Roman Morenov was in the box for Montreal. That finished the scoring in period one, as the Falcons played more defensively for the remainder of the period to enter the second with a three goal lead.

The second period saw Andre Martushev go early for hooking, and Chris Welch took advantage. Just over two minutes into the period, Montreal was back in this one as he buried the pass from Johnny O'Leary. Evandrus Jesster picked up his first point of the series with the secondary assist. Less than thirty seconds later, Detroit responded. Ray Pejonis showed off with a nifty spin move, and beat Earnest Ciarelli for his first of the playoffs. Elvis Libra and Shane Gow picked up the assists on this goal, and it was the one that ended the night for Ciarelli. The change seemed to spark something for Montreal, as Evandrus Jesster picked up his third goal of the playoffs from Shane O'Ferghall and Chris Welch one minute into a Brandon Girard penalty for holding.

Adam Falk opened the scoring in the third period, picking up his third goal of the playoffs from Johnny O'Leary and John Hirschman while Brandon Girard was in the box for boarding. Ray Pejonis finished the game's scoring when he picked up his second of the night, with assists from Elvis Libra and Jasper Clayton with under three minutes to go in the period. The Falcons took game one of the series easily on home ice with a score of five goals to three.

The Falcons scored one goal on five powerplay opportunities, and the Impact scored all three of their goals on their seven powerplay chances.

Falcons

GAME TWO:

The scoring opened in the game while Vladimir Lidstrom was in the box for Montreal. Kaapo Kekkonen won the faceoff right after that penalty, and moved the puck over to Alex Mack. Mack in turn moved it to the center to Bjorn Knutsen, whose shot sailed just over the top of the net and bounced back out in front to Brandon Girard, who had been trailing in from the point. He immediately sniped one over the outstretched glove of Earnest Ciarelli, and just like that the Falcons had the one goal lead on the powerplay, fourteen minutes into the game.

The second period was just as low scoring as the first, also seeing only one goal. Shayne Gow faked the shot before passing it up to Ross Burke, who in turn crossed it to the other side of the net where Yorgen Bartenberry was waiting for it. He picked up the pass, and roofed it on Earnest Ciarelli to extend to Falcons' lead to two.

The first goal of the third period came around the eight minute mark. Ross Burke broke into the zone, dropped it back to Girard who in turn passed it back up to Barney Tuzis waiting on the wing and he snuck it behind Earnest Ciarelli to give the Falcons the 3-0 lead. With less than three minutes to go in the period, it was the Impact who scored the game's final goal. Morenov moved the puck over to Buster Killington, who in turn pass it off to Chris Welch and it was Welch who was able to crack Bowden for the only time all night. The game ended with a 3-1 Falcons win on home ice.

The Falcons gave up a lot of powerplay opportunities to the Impact (five, to be exact) but Lee Bowden was there to shut the door on all of them, while the Falcons were able to convert on one of their four powerplay opportunities.

:impact: GAME THREE:

The Detroit Falcons came into Montreal hoping to be able to go up three in the series, and be in a position to sweep the Impact just as the Impact had done to the Scarecrows the previous week. Unfortunately for them, luck was just not on their side. Buster Killington stole the puck away from Bjorn Knutsen and fired it wide of the net, but Evandrus Jesster was there to pick it up again. His shot was stopped by Bowden, but the rebound was put away by Devon Mack and the Impact went up 1-0 in the first period.

Onto the second period we went with the score still the same. With Sage Tanner in the box for interference, Evandrus Jesster's clear attempt was stopped at the blue line by defenseman Jasper Clayton. He moved the puck up to Kaapo Kekkonen, who in turn gave the puck to Ray Pejonis, and it was Pejonis who one-timed the pass into the back of the net, beating Earnest Ciarelli to tie the game up at one on the powerplay.

And that was where the score remained at the start of the third period. With the teams tied at one each, both looked to score the next goal, which they believed could be enough to win it. And it was the Falcons who got the third goal of the game. With Ray Pejonis in the exact same position he had been in before, Morenov's clear was blocked at the line by Tim Tebow. Tebow gave it to Elvis Libra, and Libra put it up to Pejonis who once again buried the one-timer opportunity. But it wasn't enough. Montreal would score with a minute to go in the period. After Lidstrom's initial shot was blocked by Jasper Clayton, he picked up the loose puck and backhanded it over Bowden to tie the score at two.

Into overtime we went, and despite good chances going each way, Montreal was the team to win it. Brandon Girard's pass on the powerplay was picked off by Jack Burton, and on the shorthanded breakaway opportunity Burton was able to sneak the puck behind Lee Bowden to give the Montreal their first win against the defending champions.

Earnest Ciarelli and Lee Bowden each made seventeen saves for their respective teams, with Bowden facing one more shot than Ciarelli.

:impact: GAME FOUR:

Game Four took place in Montreal yet again, with the Falcons looking to take over the pace of the series. Alex Mack opened the scoring just two minutes into the game when his first of the playoffs found its way to the back of the net. Michael Burch picked up the secondary assist on the goal, and Brandon Girard picked up the primary. Eleven minutes later, Ray Pejonis once again scored for the Falcons. His fifth of the year from Kaapo Kekkonen beat Earnest Ciarelli on the two-on-one opportunity to put the Falcons up by two. Before the period came to a close, Teddy Bear brought the Impact back within one with two minutes to go, with assists on the goal being credited to Alexander Wolff and Klaus Wagner. Also of note in the first was a scrap between Brandon Girard and Klaus Wagner, which resulted in the two going even.

Less than a minute into the second, the Montreal Impact found themselves on the powerplay when Bastien Salabanzi went to the box for interfering with Evandrus Jesster. A minute into the powerplay, Adam Falk scored his third of the post-season from Vladimir Lidstrom and Jack Burton. Three minutes later, Jasper Clayton let loose a bomb from the point, and it found its way over the shoulder of Earnest Ciarelli who just couldn't get there in time. Yorgen Bartenberry and Ross Burke were credited with the assists on Clayton's first career playoff goal.

The third period opened with a goal by the Montreal Impact to tie the score up again at three. Michael Gerrard's second of the year found the back of the net after he took the pass from Andris Burkss to set him up less than three minutes into the third. But the Falcons came back again, and Shayne Gow scored his first of the post-season after beautiful passing moves from Yorgen Bartenberry and Barney Tuzis to set the whole play up, and with five minutes to go the Falcons had the one goal lead back again. But the Falcons couldn't celebrate yet, as Teddy Bear scored his third of the year from Vladimir Lidstrom and Jack Burton with one and a half minutes to go in the period.

On to overtime we went, but fans weren't even in their seats by the time the game was over. Just seconds into overtime, Evandrus Jesster moved the puck back to Vladimir Lidstrom who gave it to Buster Killington for the game winner, his first goal of the post-season. The Impact took game four on home ice by a score of five to four in overtime.

Falcons

GAME FIVE:

The Falcons returned to Detroit hoping to take the lead in the series back again now that they were on home ice. The first goal came quickly after a first period faceoff. Alex Mack won the draw, but the puck went loose in the corner where it was picked up by Evandrus Jesster. Jesster moved the puck over to Klaus Wagner, who in turn passed it along to Alexander Wolff. It ended up being Wolff who buried that one behind Austin Lemieux, and the Montreal Impact went up by a score of 1-0. The Falcons tied it up soon thereafter, however, as Bastien Salabanzi moved the puck to Ray Pejonis, and his shot was tipped in front by Elvis Libra to beat Earnest Ciarelli and put the Falcons even. With that, the first period came to a close all tied up at one.

The second period started well for the Falcons, as Michael Burch moved the puck over to Mack, who's shot went off of a skate and was put away by Bjorn Knutsen for his first goal of the playoffs this season when he beat Earnest Ciarelli. The period continued with blocked shot after blocked shot, until finally Teddy Bear was able to get his stick on the puck and his shot snuck behind Austin Lemieux. His fourth goal of the year which tied the game at two was assisted by Andris Burkss and Bobby Trill. Once again we moved on to the second period tied, this time at two each rather than just one.

We went into the third period with both teams hoping to score the next goal so they could just tighten up the defense to win, and it was Montreal who picked it up. Jack Burton moved the puck to Vladimir Lidstrom, and he gave it to Devon Mack who was able to find the back of the net to give Montreal the lead. But Detroit was able to respond, as Ray Pejonis showed he could set up goals, not just score them. He moved the puck back to Andre Martushev at the point, who in turn moved it over to Jasper Clayton. Clayton fired a beautiful shot from the point that went between Earnest Ciarelli's blocker and his pads, and the Falcons had tied it up. Before we could continue, however, we had a battle between Andre Martushev and Klaus Wagner, as the two decided to drop the gloves. But before we could have a winner, the refs pulled them apart. The Falcons scored again after that, as Ray Pejonis tipped the Kaapo Kekkonen shot to beat Earnest Ciarelli, and the Falcons took the 3-2 lead in the series after winning this one.

:impact: GAME SIX:

The Montreal Impact really came out strong here in game six, as it only took them ten seconds to get on the board. Sage Tanner moved the puck quickly up ice to Shane O'Ferghall, who sniped one past Austin Lemieux to give the Impact an early lead. The Impact would their continue domination of the play when they scored the game's second goal, this one coming from the stick of Evandrus Jesster, his fourth of the playoffs, with the helper credited to Buster Killington with four and a half minutes to go in the first. To close out the period, Bastien Salabanzi went to the box for hooking and Montreal started the second on the powerplay.

Despite the early powerplay, Montreal was not able to capitalize as the Falcons continued to hold strong on the penalty kill. It took over half the period, in fact, to see our next goal. Ross Burke moved the puck back to Jasper Clayton at the point, and his pass to Barney Tuzis in front of the net resulted in the Falcons' first goal of the game. Momentum didn't shift enough, however, and Montreal scored the team's third goal to regain that two-goal lead when Buster Killington scored his second of the year from Vladimir Lidstrom and Jack Burton.

The third period dragged on, until Jasper Clayton's pass to Kappo Kekkonen resulted in a shot and a rebound that were buried by Elvis Libra for his second of the playoffs with two minutes left in the game, but that wasn't enough as the Falcons dropped game six to even the series at three apiece.

While the Falcons were clearly disappointed about this loss, it was their own fault. They took fourteen penalty minutes in the game, but were lucky enough to hold on to go a perfect seven of seven on the penalty kill. But momentum from these penalties was enough that Montreal was able to take control of the game, and hold on for the win.

:impact: GAME SEVEN:

Game seven returned to Detroit, and it was a game many thought the Falcons would win as throughout the series so far the home team had not lost a game. But it was the Montreal Impact who got on the board first, when Sage Tanner scored goal number two of the year at the four minute mark of the period. Andris Bukss and Michael Gerrard picked up the assists on his tally. The second goal of the game came towards the tail end of a Jack Burton penalty, when the top line of Alex Mack, Bjorn Knutsen, and Michael Burch were able to come together on Burch's second goal of the playoffs to tie the game on the powerplay. A frustrated Buster Killington went to the box for hooking just a minute later, and this time it only took twelve seconds for the Falcons to capitalize. Barney Tuzis moved the puck back to Brandon Girard at the point, and his shot was tipped in by Kaapo Kekkonen to give the Detroit Falcons the one goal lead.

Onto the second we went, with the Falcons hoping just to hold on for the win. With five and a half to go, Brandon Girard took an interference call he wasn't happy about, but after a bit of argument he skated to the box to serve two, which the Falcons killed off without any issue. And with a minute to go in the period, it was the Falcons who again found the back of the net. Barney Tuzis moved the puck across ice to Yorgen Bartenberry, who gave it back to Shayne Gow for the shot that beat Ciarelli! With that, the game seemed to be over as the Falcons were dominating the pace of play with their 3-1 lead. But that was when things changed. Just five seconds after the Falcons were celebrating on the ice, they stood silent and shocked as Brandon Girard was escorted off the ice for unsportsmanlike conduct. Their captain, and one of the best players any of them had ever shared the ice with was being thrown out of the game. And it breathed life into the Impact, as the team was able to score just thirty seconds into the five minute major, as Devon Mack beat Austin Lemieux to make the score 3-2. Vladimir Lidstrom and Adam Falk picked up the powerplay assists.

In the third, the Impact started still with the man advantage. Within a minute, it was Jack Burton who scored his third of the year, from Vladimir Lidstrom and Adam Falk once again. The Falcons responded quickly, desperate to regain momentum from the Impact, as Ray Pejonis scored goal number seven from Elvis Libra and Allan Stewart just five minutes into the period. The Falcons hoped to hold on for the rest of the game, but the lack of Brandon Girard was apparent as the players just couldn't step up and replace him. Three goals from the Impact (credited to Adam Falk, Lord Pretty Flacko, and Buster Killington) were the three nails on the coffin that now holds the Falcons' Four Star Cup dreams, and the Impact won it 6-4.

Penalties were once again the story here, as the Falcons gave up seven opportunities to the Impact, and Montreal was able to capitalize on three of them.

FOUR STAR CUP FINALS PREDICTIONS
Montreal Impact vs Vancouver Whalers

So, as anybody who's read one of these before knows, I'm a stats guy. I like all these stats. So let's talk stats.

Both teams haven't had any problem scoring goals this season - Vancouver's scored a whopping 4.18 per game, and Montreal has scored 3.45 per game, while Montreal has allowed 2.91 per game and Vancouver has allowed 3.00. When looking at pure scoring numbers, Vancouver clearly has the edge in this series. However, shots can have a huge impact on that outcome. So let's take a look at those, shall we?

Throughout the playoffs, Vancouver has outshot their opponents 27.09 to 20.55. A pretty nice +7 shots per game differential. Montreal is pretty even in the two categories, at 25.45 shots for and 24.45 shots against per game. Again, the edge here in shots seems to go to the Vancouver Whalers.

Let's take a look now at special teams. The Montreal Impact have dominated in this regard, converting on 25% of their man advantage opportunities, and stopped 81.40% of their opponents' chances. This is the first place in our analysis where we seem some evidence on struggle on the parts of the Vancouver Whalers, who only convert 18.46% of the time on the powerplay, and stop their opponents 77.55% of the time on the penalty kill. Here, the advantage is in favor of Montreal.

Looking at hits, the two teams are so even the difference isn't even negligible - they're .09 hits per game different, so close that in a series you might even see the Whalers pound the fucking body more often than the Impact.

In penalty minutes, the difference is again close, with the Whalers taking one more minute of penalty time per game than the Impact.

In faceoffs, Vancouver has done slightly better than the Impact have done. Again, we're talking a very small difference.

Looking at the stats, there's a few key areas where each team needs to focus if they want to win.

For Montreal - shoot the damn puck. Earnest Ciarelli hasn't looked all that great in the playoffs, but that's because the Impact aren't shooting enough to win him games, and instead are allowing their opponents to possess the puck and take those shots. If you can outshoot your opponents, you're more likely to win so getting pucks on net should help. Also, don't be afraid to take the body. You're the stronger team on special teams, so you can afford a few penalties in an attempt to anger the Whalers. If the Whalers get beat up and pissed off enough, they'll start making stupid mistakes and take runs to the box that you're much more likely to capitalize on.

For Vancouver - stay out of the box. In five-on-five hockey, you're the better team. You're going to beat them if you can just stop making runs to the box. But the second someone is sent off the ice, you can pretty much bet that the Montreal Impact are going to score. If you can keep all your players on the ice, you'll have a pretty good chance of taking this series. Outside of that, just keep playing the same game you've been playing. You destroyed the West, and if you keep on doing what you've been doing you can definitely complete the dark horse performance.

Our pick: Whalers

take it in 7 games.

FALCONS REPORT CARD
Round Two Performance

SCORING: A

Scoring has never been an issue for the Falcons this season, and it wasn't in the playoffs either. The team consistently put up huge shot numbers, and buried many of their chances whenever the Impact gave them any amount of space on the ice. It's hard to complain when one of your players had a 50% shooting percentage and seven goals in seven games, tied with VLAD McZehrl who has the same number of goals in four additional games played. Hopefully the Falcons can continue dominating the scoring game next season, despite likely losing many key players to the SHL next season.

DEFENSE: B+

The defense did pretty well this series, keeping players off of the puck and preventing the Impact from getting scoring chances. But the reason for the lowered score is not because they failed at their jobs, it's because they failed when they most needed to step up. In the absence of star defender Brandon Girard, the Falcons were unable to get anything done. Once he left the ice in that final game, the Impact were able to score four goals, while the Falcons managed to bury only one. It was an unfortunate situation, but the Falcons' defense needed to be better when their Four Star Cup hopes were on the line.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+

Well, on the bright side the Falcons seemed to learn what a penalty kill was. On the down side, they had a lot of practice throughout the series. The Falcons played a horribly undisciplined game, and in one game (a game the Falcons somehow managed to win) the Falcons actually gave up seven opportunities, and managed to kill off all seven. You know how many powerplay chances the Falcons had in that game? Zero. It was a pretty messed up series in that regard. The Falcons did really well on the penalty kill, and it's something the team should definitely look to build off of for next season, though hopefully they'll play a more disciplined game and, along with that, spend less time killing off penalties. While the powerplay wasn't the greatest for the Falcons in the playoffs, it's getting there.

GOALTENDING: A-

The goaltenders were fine throughout the series. Most nights they put their team in a position to walk out of there with a win, and that's what you want to see from your goaltenders. And considering two of the losses were in overtime in relatively low-scoring games, you can say that the Falcons should've been better in front of their goaltenders if they actually wanted to win the series. While there were a few moments where the Falcons' goaltenders looked like they might be struggling a bit, it's hard to point to them as one of the reasons the Falcons were unable to move on.

OVERALL: A-

The Falcons played a good series. There's no disputing that. They also showed a lot of improvement in many of the areas where they had to improve before the playoffs. But when their season was on the line, nobody stepped up to show that the Falcons deserved to remain in contention. And because of that, the team is now stuck looking towards next season, hoping that they can recover after they will inevitably lose many of the key players that made them a favorite to win the Four Star Cup this season.

FALCONS PLAYOFFS HIGH FLYER
Ray Pejonis

What is there to say about a guy who scores seven goals in seven playoff games? Well, to be honest, there's a lot. He was a great player all season long for the Falcons, and once he was reunited with Kaapo Kekkonen that was when he really shone. In the playoffs, he lead the Detroit Falcons in goals with seven and in points with nine. He was one of the major reasons the Falcons were favorites going into this series, and one of the reasons why people thought the Falcons had a good shot at the Four Star Cup. He'll likely be playing up in the SHL next season, and the team is going to miss him dearly. He had a great presence, both on and off the ice all year long, throughout both the regular season and the playoffs, and in the playoffs was where he really was able to leave his mark as a Falcons' legend.

Thank you for reading The Falcon's Wing all season, and we hope you'll continue to count on us for your source of news on the Detroit Falcons! Enjoy the S24 finals in both the SHL and in the SMJHL!

I'd also like to thank everyone at the Detroit Falcons for everything they've done this season, and I'd like to give a special thanks and best wishes to Mook, who is moving on from the SMJHL to be the GM of the Manhattan Rage next season.

WHOOSH
Falcons

Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 10:06 AM

Code:
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ISSUE #1

ISSUE #2

ISSUE #3

ISSUE #4

ISSUE #5

TML99 · 07-27-2015, 12:54 PM

Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 01:26 PM

Quote:Originally posted by TML99@Jul 27 2015, 11:54 AM

Such slow going today because I have to re-read all the PbPs whereas normally I would be able to just read through the game readouts. Almost done though. Just going through VAN/MTL playoff stats in the index.

Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 01:55 PM

And we're done here Cheers

Best of luck to Montreal and Vancouver!

TML99 · 07-27-2015, 02:32 PM

Quote:Originally posted by Eggy216@Jul 27 2015, 11:55 AM
And we're done here

Best of luck to Montreal and Vancouver!

Sooooo you gonna hit 2k today or what? Wink

Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 02:52 PM

Quote:Originally posted by TML99@Jul 27 2015, 01:32 PM

Sooooo you gonna hit 2k today or what?

If not today, then definitely tomorrow. It depends on what's going on around the site today. Don't have much doing on on the site today, so probably tomorrow. Unless something happens.

LB. · 07-27-2015, 03:33 PM

Thanks beaut!

Eggy216 · 07-27-2015, 03:41 PM

Quote:Originally posted by LatvianBastard@Jul 27 2015, 02:33 PM
Thanks beaut!

:wub:

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