Halifax Floor Hockey League
LAN Hackers
The LAN Hackers began the post-John Dulong era by winning their seventh regular season title in the nine-season history of the league. Perennial sniper John Price won his fifth scoring title, but first in four seasons. Second-year Hacker forward Jamie Houghton proved that last season's breakout performance was not a fluke, finishing third in the scoring standings. Both Price and Houghton are thus far the two leading all-star vote-getters amongst forwards. By finishing first, the Hackers earn a bye into the semi-finals.
ADC Lynx
The league's hottest team entering the playoffs appears to be the ADC Lynx. They won their final three games of the season by a combined 25 goals, and looked unstoppable in doing so. The Lynx have gelled after overcoming early season personnel problems, and finish as the highest scoring team in the league. Dale Wright finished tops amongst rookies with 44 points, and his 15 point performance against the Slayers will live on in the annals of the ADC FHL.
Keane Fire
The veteran Keane Fire squad finished a successful 2003A season with 12 points, good enough for third place overall. The third place finish is the highest for the Fire since the league expanded to six teams in 2000B. It was an up-and-down season for the Fire, who managed to lose three games by six goals, despite their strong record. The Fire will be trying to build on their 14-9 thrashing of the LAN Hackers in their final regular season game, as they enter the playoffs. The Fire will face off against the Keane Chill in a quarterfinal match-up.
Lite-Sabres
The two-time defending champion Lite-Sabres had to scratch and claw their way to a 12-point season. Despite finishing tied for second with the Lynx and Fire, the Sabres lost the tie-breakers, thus finishing in fourth place overall. Of the 10 games that the Sabres played, all but one were decided by less than two goals. The Sabres won four games by a single goal, and their only other win was by two goals, thanks to a late empty-net tally. The Sabres may have a couple of personnel problems entering the playoffs however. The league's leading assists-per-game getter, Glen Gerrard, recently had a baby, and may not be available in the playoffs. Sabres captain Chris McMaster has said that the team just doesn't have the budget to afford a babysitter for Gerrard. And grinding forward Matt Wheeler will be out for the duration of the season with a severely sprained ankle, suffered late in the season. Wheeler offered to wear his high-school cheerleading uniform to the rest of the Sabres games, but the team respectfully declined his offer.
Sunnydale Slayers
A season that began destined for failure for the Sunnydale Slayers has turned into a season of opportunity. A crucial late-season win against the Keane Chill vaulted the Slayers into fifth place overall. And their first-round opponents, the Lite-Sabres, will not be taking the Slayers lightly after the Sabres narrowly escaped with a 5-4 victory in the season’s final regular season game. Unfortunately, the Slayers will likely be without the services of two-time champion Dan Culligan in the playoffs. Culligan accepted an offer with a Toronto-based team, after he reportedly could not come to terms with Slayers captain Ian Scott.
Keane Chill
The Keane Chill almost certainly appear to be the strongest team ever to finish in last place overall in the history of the league. The tough-luck Chill lost an agonizing four games by a single goal. The Chill were able to scrounge out a tie against the league's number one team the LAN Hackers late in the season, however. Captain Greg Foran was only able to attend half of the team's 10 regular season games. Although Foran wouldn't explain his absences directly, he was heard to mumble something about his "undying love of the Capability Maturity Model" prior to one of his absences.