Monday, April 22nd Schedule:
Yeti vs Knights at 630
Yeti vs Knights at 8
Monday, April 29th Schedule
Yeti vs Knights at 7 if necessary
Knights 14 Mayhem 2
Most expected the Knights to put the series away last night, but it appeared that the Mayhem had their best chance to keep this game entertaining when Brandon Reiter, Rooster and Nate Galentine weren’t in the Knights lineup. Unfortunately for the Mayhem, Derrian Matchock said that he would not be available to goalie for them last night which put a seldom used goalie up until near the end of the season, Mason Britton, into the fire. Derrian Matchock played a big role in the Mayhem’s win over the Colonials last week and kept his team competitive against the Knights for 2 periods last week, but Peach said that his team came out slow and gave up some goals off rebounds in last nights game. Andy Calvert led the way offensively for the Knights with at least 5 goals. Each of the Kline’s had 3 or 4 goals and Cory Schuckers, who only made 2 or 3 games during the regular season, chipped in a couple goals as well. Anthony Schuckers had one of the goals for the mayhem (We aren’t sure who had the other) but the outcome of this game was decided pretty early. We would like to congratulate the Mayhem on making the playoffs and Peach is already working on a roster for next season. He said that he has someone coming out of retirement? No names will get mentioned until he mentions something. For the Knights, they will be trying to pick up in 2024 where they left off in 2023. They swept the Slap Happy in the 2023 championship series and beat Interim Healthcare in the 2023 SRHL championship game. They will be facing their toughest test this season considering the Yeti handed them a 7-6 loss just over a month ago and almost forced overtime against them in a game they played without Derik Day in the lineup. This has the making of one of the best championships in the history of the XHL. It feels like we haven’t had a 3 game championship series since the Renegades beat the Knights.
Yeti 6 Eagles 2
The Eagles played some of its best hockey in the final month of the regular season, but they ran into the wrong team at the wrong time. You would have never known the Yeti lost 11-2 to the Knights in the opening night of the season. After losing a one goal game to the Colonials way back in January, the Yeti have won 10 of its last 11 games including 4 games against the Eagles. Last night’s game was tied at 1 after the 1st period but the Yeti scored 4 times in the 2nd period to set the tone for the rest of the game. Ben Rossi continues to play his best hockey as he got the scoring started in the 2nd period. He also scored the Yeti’s only 3rd period goal to put them up 6-1 by that time. Steve Pompeii made it 3-1 shortly after Rossi scored their first 2nd period goal and Zach Smith would later score to make it 4-1. The game was defined when Dave Jewell scored on a full court shot that trickled off one of the Eagles skates (we think Waddell was the culprit) that made its way past Eagles goalie Henry Sutter. Those are one of those goalies worse nightmares but those can be the toughest shots to see when numerous people are surrounding you. The Eagles came out in desperation mode in the 3rd period and had some good quality looks, but there was nothing they could have been able to do any different. Yeti goalie Adam McKinley, who has been around for a few of these games now, was in one of those moods where he refused to give up a goal. Jerred Amick would eventually get a shot past him but the game was well decided by then. Earlier in the period, Austin Boyd got a great shot off on a perfect set up from one of his teammates, but McKinley was in the right place at the right time once again. The Yeti fell 11-2 to the Knights on opening night, but that isn’t even a thought going into this series. Their other 2 games were decided by a goal with each team winning by a score of 7-6. We would like to congratulate the Eagles on a good season. It probably felt like déjà vu from a season ago. Unfortunately for them, they ran into the wrong team at the wrong time. Its still hard to believe the Yeti lost 11-2 to the Knights on opening night. Even players from the Knights aren’t expecting a repeat of that when their series begins next week. Congratulations to the Yeti on their turnaround and for making it back to the finals. Can they dethrone the Knights of their 2023 championships?
Other Annoucement:
Looking ahead, we are not planning on putting a league together at the rink this summer. Brockway currently has a non competitive league on Tuesday nights and a competitive league on Thursday nights. One idea that came to mind was to have a 3 week tournament at the rink in June (either June 10th, 17th and 24 or June 17th, 24th and July 1st). Round robin games would be the first 2 nights of the tournament with playoff games being played on the final night of the tournament. We would play from 7 to 9 on those Monday nights depending on how much interest we would get for it. Even if a person cant commit to those 3 weeks, we could plug in spots with fill ins. Reach out if you would be interested in doing that.
If someone else would want to try to promote Monday night pick up hockey at the rink on a steady basis this summer, let me know. I am willing to put a few mini tournaments together throughout the summer but not planning on organizing Monday night hockey on a regular basis until this fall.
Steve Pompeii (Yeti)
1. 6-2 win over the Eagles last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the win? I thought we played a pretty disciplined game. The first period we started pretty slow. But after that we found our game and stuck with it till the end.
2. You guys turned a 1-1 tie into a 5-1 lead by the end of the 2nd period. What do you think you guys did better in that 2nd period? Well we stuck to what we’ve been doing for most of the year and that’s playing a solid all around game. Not giving up the odd man rushes, being relentless on the back check and capitalizing on scoring chances.
3. You contributed a big 2nd period goal to push your lead to 3-1. How nice was it to contribute and to gain a multiple goal lead at that point? Yeah it felt good. It seems like once we got the lead against them we knew we could keep it. We’ve have their number all year and wasn’t going to let that change this game. Its about not giving up on the play. And we haven’t been doing that. And that leads to good things
4. How do you think RJ, Steve, Zach and Rossi have fit in with you guys this season? . Those guys have been great. Since our last championship i feel that the our team hasn’t had the offensive presence that we have had in the past. So those guys have been a breathe of fresh air for our offensive game. I feel like we’re a balanced again.
5. Biggest question----- Are you looking forward to another championship series against the Knights? Always looking forward to a good challenge. It’s going to be a great series. This is what you play for, besides the exercise. When you got the 2 best teams playing each other it’s bound to be some competitive hockey. Just wish we didn’t have to play 2 games in one night . No one likes that haha
Jerred Amick (Eagles)
1. The Eagles season came to an end against the Yeti last night. What can you say about the overall effort in the loss? Effort wasn’t there, it hasn’t been there all season for a few. Some guys either don’t want to or can’t pick up their feet and move their legs.
2. A 1-1 tie turned into a 5-1 deficit by the end of the 2nd period. What do you think went wrong for you guys in that period? . Overwhelming pressure by the yeti compounded by our inability to breakout by skating it out of the zone. Every breakout was a forced pass that was frequently turned over, sometimes effortlessly by the yeti. Our inability to gain, hold, and sustain offensive pressure in the O zone was also a big problem. Running and gunning against Adam and Dave is usually difficult, I’m glad they’re on my team next season.
3. Adam appeared to be in his playoff form last night. Is it easier to deal with a season ending loss whenever the opposing goalie plays as well as Adam did last night? . Adam plays well when his team needs him to and we were unable to find ourselves in the high danger areas where he could be beaten. No dumper goals on Adam in the playoffs and he let none in that he should have saved.
4. How would you describe your teams season overall? This one was a rocky season comparing ourselves to the Edmonton oilers where we were on a losing streak and had some embarrassing losses, we were able to bounce back and put ourselves into a playoff spot beating some key top teams. We were written off early in the season especially after our mercy rule loss knights hype. I don’t think anyone thought we would beat the knights this season, marking specifically this exact quote from January 22nd by BAnderson: “how is anyone going to have a chance to beat the knights this season?”. We did.
5. Brockway is going to be starting up in a couple weeks. What kind of expectations do you have for the league in general this summer? It seems the Medieval Age is nearing an end….
Clint Lingenfelter (Knights)
1.You guys are back in the championship after beating the Mayhem on Monday. What can you say about the overall team effort on Monday considering you guys were ironman? No matter who's there, team effort is always great! The guys didn't stop pushing the whole game!
2. Cory has been able to play more games recently. What does his presence do for you guys and how do you think he has done to try to fit in since he started playing more regular again? Cory brings more help on the back end! He's been playing great since he came back! Having him and Jake both on D allows for other players, specifically Brandon, more time playing down low in the offensive zone!
3. You guys were expecting to win Monday but some thought it would be competitive. What kind of game were you expecting going into it? I thought it'd b much closer! We definitely brought it to them and capitalized on some of their mistakes they made in their own zone!
4. Yeti are up next. What was your impression of them after watching them win both their games against the Eagles? Their tough! Their good in every aspect of the game! It'll be a great series! We'll have to be at our best to come out on top!
5. Pens not in the playoffs. How disappointed are you that they didn’t sneak in? I wouldn't say disappointed. It's more sad than anything! To have a player like Sid playing the way he is and not being able to watch him in the playoffs is bad for hockey! The powerplay and not being able to hold leads led to their demise. On to next year!