Nerves were a bit tense on both benches as the McFet Red Liners met up with Watchmen Hockey for only their second time in the season. Their only other meeting was back in November 2013 with the Watchmen beating the Liners 4-2 on the strength of their power plays. But with both teams having four months to hone their lines, this would be a different battle. And the end result was different.
The first period began with the top lines of both teams duking it out to see who would gain supremacy over space on the rink. Initially, the Watchmen seemed to cover more ground. They would score the game’s first goal using their speed. During the only penalty of the first period, the Watchmen’s legendary power play unit could not sneak past the strong D pairs of Bleech-Twank and Queen Anne-Leffie. But before the period was over, the line of Toe and Super Jay would swarm the net that allowed a loose puck to be popped in by Mixy.
The second period again began with the Watchmen scoring early on with a slapshot at the Liner’s netminder that just trickled through the five hole. The rest of the period had the Liners desperately trying to even up the scoring. They did not want to go down 1 or 2 goals to this top seeded team. The Watchmen were awarded another power play (off Doc’s tripping call) but again could not get past the D or the Liners’ goalie, Dr. Funk. As the second period clock ticked off its remaining seconds, Toe launched a blue line slapshot at crowd in front of the Watchmen net. Super Jay managed to deflect the puck down into the net with 0.6 seconds remaining in the period.
With the score tied going into the final period, fans on both sides began to notice more hesitation and frustration with the Watchmen. The Liners seemed to be getting their groove as their opponents became more frustrated. Dr. Funk was easily turning about shots or gloving pucks out of the air. This culminated in a called off goal as the Watchmen pushed the puck & goalie pad into the net in an attempt to score. Having dodged this bullet, the Liners doubled their efforts. El Jesso with Twank, Bachman and Rocket would capitalize on the Watchmen’s goalie mistake. A cleared puck floated far in front of the Watchmen’s netminder. These Red Liners pressured him and his D men as he swiped and missed the puck. A charging El Jesso shot this loose puck past the goalie and into the net. With about half the third period remaining, the Liners managed to run valuable time off the clock with a textbook puck-keep-away during their powerplay. Though many shots were taken especially from Dirky and B-hole, they couldn’t find the back of the net. The Watchmen had one last chance to tie up the score with their third power play with less than 3 minutes left in the game. With the first half of the powerplay not getting any results, the Watchmen pulled their 90 seconds left in the game for a 6-4 advantage. But Mixy would come to the rescue after pokechecking the puck from their charging center. He then lobbed the puck out of his defensive zone and saw it coast and slice into the empty net for the insurance goal. Mixy would also earn Player of the Game with his two goals.
With the hard earned victory, they will face off against the Mighty Merkins who finished the season with a 13-5-1 record, just behind the Watchmen. Unlike most playoffs that have the #1 and #2 seeds vieing for the championship, it will be the #2 and #5 seeds. The win-loss records would make this game appear to be lopsided. But the Red Liners have already shown they have the energy, team work, and heart to beat two of the top four teams. With one more win, they will have earned another championship for the CGHA organization.