Half of the Johnny’s Red Liners participated in a mid-afternoon voluntary practice. The hard skate may have contributed to their early sluggish play. The first period was all Fireballs at the start. They would go score their first of two goals by the five minute mark. B-hole took the Red Liners’ first injury with a slapshot to the neck a few minutes later. Minutes later, the FIreballs caused the Liners on a line change and scored their second goal. But an injury to Queen Steph just seconds later would be the turning point. She blocked a hard slapshot with her leg and had to be carried from the ice by two other players. Even with the bench shrinking from 13 to 10 players, the team began scoring on the next shift. The Donimator popped in the puck with an assist from Tyty.
The scoring momentum carried into the second period with four more unanswered goals as the players cheered on for Steph. The goal scorers were Twank with two, and Easy E and Sobo with one each. The stunned Fireballs had no answer for all of the Liners’ scoring. Even with back to back powerplays in the early third period, the Fireballs could not find the back of the net. Late in the third period, B-hole would aggravate his earlier neck injury and leave the bench. The remaining 9 players capped the scoring with Easy E popping in a rebound into the upper Fireball net.
With the win, the Red Liners ensure a top three seed in the playoffs. A win in their final game (against the Butchers Union) would ensure a top two seed. The Devils could tie the Liners in points but would take the top seed because of tie breaks. This final game will be on March 9 at 3:30pm (JIH West). Injury updates will hopefully be available in the future.