Based upon standings and past 3 matchups, this battle would expect to be a tough fight with the Merkins having the upper hand. But the guys and gal in red stuck with their proven strategy of play an aggressive offense, cycle back for pinching in defensemen, and keep the shifts short. In the end, this combination which carried them past the semi-finals would also carry them to victory.
Early on, things looked good for the Red Liners as they were notching goals while the Merkins remained scoreless. Dirkie’s goal at the 42 second mark of the first period was a sign of things to come. Queen Anne’s slapshot was blocked but then popped into the open net for the second goal. The Merkins had little sustained offensive threats esp with Dr. Funk, the Liners netminder, having a typical solid game. They could not capitalize on the only powerplay of the period.
The scoring in the second period began as quickly as the first period. Dirkie deflected a cross ice pass just past the Merkin goalie before 40 seconds ticked off the game clock. The Merkins would finally get on board about half way through the second period. The Liners were now pushed onto the back of their skate blades and tried to hold the Merkin momentum back.
The third period did not start out with another quick start goal by the Red Liners. It took several minutes more this time. Jessie was waiting in the right place and the right time as a cross slot shot rebounded to him and he fired it in the back of the Merkin net. Several minutes later the Merkin did return the favor with a goal off a 2-on-1 breakaway to get within 2 goals of tying the score. But the D pairs of Leffie-Queen Anne and Twank-Sobo continued to stonewall the Merks. Even the forwards like Super Jay, Bleech, Markie Mark, and MK fell back to fortify the defensemen. With less than two minutes left to play, the Merkins pulled their goalie. However, they again couldn’t use the extra man to score two more goals. In fact, Toe would pop in the open net goal to seal the victory for the Red Liners.
But this game, these playoffs, the whole season was a whole CGHA effort. It cannot be stressed enough how other members of the Red Liners like Pope Don Juan, Rocket, Mile High Les, Baby, Mr. Rogers, Evan, Mr. Powers, The Red Baron, Craine Craine, Big Dadyy, Davie E, Yaz, Matty, iBerg, CSJ, Kryan, NIls, AJ, and of course Dr. Nick, helped get this team to the championship. It also includes the many fans that showed up during the season (even with crappy game times). We hope to have a bigger and more exciting season with two Red Liners teams playing in the summer. One opponent commented that the CGHA was “easily the most organized hockey club in town.” No, its the best hockey club in town.