Halifax Floor Hockey League
[ Hackers 12 Chill 5 ]
For the first time this season, the Hackers floored two full lines of players. Most notably present were the often absent, and always potent duo of Blaise MacPhee and Steve Schumph. Schumph, perhaps the fittest and fastest player in the league, only managed to notch a solitary goal in this semi-final game, but his unrelenting attacking style wore down an over-matched Chill defense.
Early on, however, it appeared as though the Chill were ready to make a game of it. At the end of the first period, the Chill and Hackers were tied at three. The Chill even led briefly, 4-3, early in the second, before the Hackers reeled off 9 straight goals to erase any doubts.
MacPhee, who had only made 2 of 10 regular season games, played solidly on defense, limiting the Chill to few good scoring opportunities. His laser-like wrist shot found the back of the net four times to lead all goal-scorers.
Scoring champion John Price led all point getters with six, including three goals. Mike Montgomery, Chris Rafuse, Mark Smith, and Matt Monk added single markers for the Hackers.
Dion Dooley led all Chill goal scorers with 3, while Rob Romaine tallied the other two. Jehad Chedrawy led the Chill with 3 assists.
[ Sabres 10 Lynx 9 ]
In a rematch of last season's semi-final game, the 8-1-1 Lite-Sabres squared off against the 5-5 Lynx. Although their records would suggest that this game may be one-sided, most experts knew otherwise. In the teams' previous meeting, the Sabres eked out a last-minute 6-5 victory. What was significant about that game was that the Lynx were missing arguably their two strongest players in Jay Allison and Greg Foran.
Foran and Allison were both in attendance for the Lynx on Thursday. The Sabres were planning to counter with seldom used sniper Richard Pickering, but Pickering failed the random pre-game breathalyzer test and was barred from action.
The first period was a defense battle, evident in the 1-1 first intermission score. The second period was more open, but just as tight as the first. Highlighting the second period was a brilliant end-to-end rush by Sabre rookie Dave MacKenzie, which ended in one of his three goals.
Entering the third period, the game was still tied at five. The Sabres came out strong, opening up a two-goal margin midway through the period, and extending it to three with only minutes to go. Sensing the urgency of the situation, the Lynx pressed and cut the lead to 10-8 with 45 seconds to go. The Lynx continued the attack, winning the ensuing face-off. A Jay Allison shot from midcourt somehow managed to find its way to Greg Foran, who was waiting at the side of the Sabres' goal, for the easy score.
Remarkably, the Lynx still had a chance with only 16 ticks left on the clock and the score 10-9. But it was the Sabres night as they managed to hang on for a hard-fought 10-9 victory.
With the victory the Sabres will face the Hackers in the final for the third time, but the first since the 1999B season. The Lynx will have to settle for the consolation game against the expansion sister-team, the Keane Chill.