Regular Season Concludes

Final Regular Season Standings:

1.       Knights 24 (119-46)

2.       Yeti 18 (93-45)

3.       Eagles 13 (78-55)

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4.       Bear Claw 12 (93-92)

5.       Colonials 10 (76-75)

6.       Hounds 8 (66-137)

7.       Walkers 2 (60-130)

Knights 8  Colonials 3

Congratulations to the Knights on finishing undefeated in the regular season.   They will be favored to win the next 2 games which would get them into the finals undefeated.  We aren’t sure if an XHL championship team has ever finished undefeated.  The Yeti or Eagles will try to have something to say about it in 2 to 3 weeks from now, unless one of the bottom 4 teams can pull off one of the biggest playoff upsets in XHL history.  Based on last nights 8-3 win over the colonials, it does not look like the colonials will be a big threat if they are able to win 2 games for the final playoff spot.  Someone may need to call the fire company to hose off Brandon Reiter’s stick before the playoffs begin.  Adam was filling in net for the colonials last night to allow John Matchock to skate out and did a good job of keeping the colonials in the game but no one had an answer for Brandon Reiter.   Reiter’s 2 first period goals put the Knights up 2-0 going into the 2nd period and he would add more goals in the 2nd period to put them up 5-0 at one point.  Noah chipped in some offense as well.  The Colonials rallied for 3 unanswered goals late in the 2nd period to close the gap to 5-3 going into the 3rd period.  Bob made a pass to Brian past the center line which went from Brian to Phil and Phil was able to break away to get the colonials on the board.  A minute or so later, Bob scored on a nice slap shot on a pass from Phil to get them to within 5-2 and Brian later found Bob open on a break away to close the gap to 5-3.  The Colonials had some good chances in the 3rd period to draw closer but Clint kept the Knights ahead by 2 until they got some more offense going in the 3rd period.  Noah and Brandon added 3rd period goals to put the game away.  One of the knights goals deflected off John Matchock into the net which may have summed up the colonials regular season.  The teams could meet again in a couple weeks depending on what happens next week.  The knights finished the regular season 12-0 and outscored their opponents 119-46.  They swept the yeti 3-0, eagles 3-0 and the colonials 2-0.  The colonials will need to beat the Hounds and Walkers or Bear Claw to get a chance to play the knights in 2 weeks.  Maybe losing next week wont be so bad.  Fred and Jay Edmiston were absent last night but said they should be there next week.  Tyler Waltman filled in for Jay last night.  Cory and Nate Galentine weren’t there for the Knights last night. 

Yeti 7  Eagles 2

This game did not mean anything, but maybe it was a good confidence booster for the Yeti after last week’s 12-3 loss to the knights.  This game was close most of the way but the Yeti pulled away in the 3rd period.   Derik Day and Dave Jewell did most of the damage offensively for the Yeti.  Braxton and Ben Rossi each chipped in early goals to put the yeti ahead the whole way.   A 2-0 lead midway through the 2nd period got up to 5-1 early in the 3rd period before Jerred Amick scored to close the gap to 5-2. Zac Gray and Austin Boyd was involved in their only other goal (that goal closed the gap to 3-1 late in the 2nd period).   The yeti put the game out of reach late in the 3rd period.   Henry Sutter was present for the Eagles last night but his playoff availability is uncertain.    The Yeti finished the regular season 9-3 with only the knights the only team to beat them.  The Eagles started out 5-0 but weren’t able to get by the top two teams in the regular season.  Most of the games were close which should set us up for a good semi final series against the Yeti.   The yeti won the earlier game against them 3-2 in Zac Grays first game with the Eagles this season.  

Bear Claw 12  Walkers 6  (Did not see any of this game)

The Bear Claw got their 6th win of the season last night with a 12-6 win over the walkers.  With the win and colonials loss, they finished in the 4th spot which will give them another matchup with the walkers next week to open up the 4th place tournament.  The walkers got ahead early but the bear claw controlled the majority of the game from there.  Anthony Schuckers led the way in goals for them while Laken, Zach Foradori and Vinnie each contributed a couple goals.  Steve Hetrick had a 2nd period goal for the walkers while Mark Chesley got one as well, but the majority of their goals came from Denny and Troy again.  It was not a complete blowout, but this game was not near as close as their last meeting was when it took extra hockey to decide a winner.  The walkers did not get a win in the regular season but took the bear claw and hounds to overtime.  The loss to the hounds came after being 1.6 seconds away from a win.   Brice Miller may not be available to play in the playoffs for the bear claw.  A schedule for the 4th place tournament is listed below:

Schedule for April 14th:

Walkers vs Bear Claw at 620 (loser eliminated)

Hounds vs Colonials at 720 (loser eliminated)

620 vs 720 winner at 820