Sunday December 11(Semi finals)

(5)Romans vs Red Nose(2) Game 1

Romans power play ignites in 5-2 win over Red Nose

When the opportunity presented itself, the Romans made sure to take advantage. S.Scarpelli and C.Paris each scored power play goals and the Romans put themselves in the driver’s seat riding a 3-0 lead. That gap held but on a thin thread with Red Nose responding twice in a minute. Y.Gazura and J-P Meunier pulled their club within one and all of a sudden this contest was up for business. However, as the game went on, the Romans calmed the momentum keeping the Red Nose off the score sheet. It was by the third period when this game took one direction. With the help of C.Paris’s second goal along with his captain F.Venditti’s insurance marker only moments later, the Romans felt at ease knowing that they captured a huge game one of the series. A.Grieco captured the win in net limiting a solid offence to only two goals on 26 shots.

(4)Red Nose vs Romans(6) Game 2

Romans kept power play surge alive, punch ticket to final

It’s that time of year when you hope and expect everything to go right. The Romans continued fromm where they left off taking nothing for granted in their 6-4 decision over Red Nose .Similar to their opening game, the Romans used two power play goals by the second period to put a strangle hold in the series. Led by one of their better players, A.Mirolla tied the game at two with the man advantage before adding his second late in the contest. The Romans lit the lamp by the second frame outscoring the Red Nose 4-1.Five different players contributed in the goal scoring department while the Red Nose saw M.Latreille do much of the damage posting a hat trick. The Romans showed their depth take effect in both games that will surely give them a big advantage as they have one more task to complete.

(8)Lumberjacks vs Shockers(4) Game 1

Gingras’s six-point game powers Lumberjacks in game one

Lumberjacks’s sensation C.Gingras had a hand in six out of the eight goals to help kick start the night on the right foot for the Lumberjacks .By the first half the game, Gingras had already posted a hat trick before deciding to be a play maker setting up three different teammates. In addition to the onslaught, M.Gaudreault matched his teammates goal scoring production by also netting a hat trick. The Shockers had a good start to the night but slowly fell apart giving up a bunch of goals towards the second half of the game. C.Debonis had a multi goal game in the loss. This wasn’t the right game plan for a club that took to many penalties at an important time of the season. With that, the Shockers looked to adjust in game two in hopes of tying the series.

(6)Shockers vs Lumberjacks(3) Game 2

Shockers come back strong to even series

The Shockers abandoned the cautious approach early on out battling the Lumberjacks to a 4-1 first period lead. It was a period that saw most of the desperate side pull their weight with four different players scoring. But as the game went on, the Shockers knew that they can rely on a key element, and that is C.Debonis. After collecting two first period points, the Shockers top gun went on to add a second and third period goal to complete his hat trick. At no point in time did the Shockers feel threatened knowing that the Lumberjacks had a huge hill to climb. Despite the loss, C.Gingras and M.Gaudreault were still the Lumberjacks better players. Gingras collected three more points while Gaudreault bagged a pair. Now that both sides collected key victories, a fifteen minute or more mini game was left to decide who’ll take on the Romans for the E Sunday division.

(1)Lumberjacks vs Shockers(2) Game 3 O.T

M.Blackman and Shockers celebrate OT winner, advance to final

The way both previous games went, it’s no surprise that this series was going down to the wire. The Lumberjacks had the better start when no other than C.Gingras struck only two minutes into the fifteen minute mini game. That lead held for a while and things appeared to be fine up until the alarm bells rang with the Lumberjacks taking a four minute high-sticking penalty. The Lumberjacks managed to kill off most of it but not to its entirety. With only three and a half minutes left in the game, J.Collins kept his club alive by riffling a huge power play goal. Both sides knew at that point the next goal was going to surely decide the outcome of the series. In these types of circumstances, nobody wants to be responsible for any sort of mistakes .But hockey is often about timing and the time was right when M.Blackman seized the moment. After receiving a pass by T.Salberg, the Shockers couldn’t celebrate loud enough when M.Blackman gave his club something real to cheer about. This win advances the Shockers to the final where they’ll have a difficult challenge ahead of them. The Romans may enter as favorites with their upscale talent and experience, but the Shockers do have some important key ingredients such as intensity and game breakers in C.DeBonis, T.Salberg and M.Blackman just to name a few. Time will tell as both sides will complete the season on Sunday December 18.

The SalumiVino player of the night goes to Christopher Debonis of the Shockers. With so much on the line, C.Debonis looked like a wrecking machine out there. The highly skilled forward produced five goals and two assists to help lead the Shockers to the final.