Delight on South Beach - The Marauders Lift the Founder's Cup

[Bojovnik 487]

MIAMI, May 8 (Miami Herald), Adam Carlson - At the midway point of the season, the VHLM’s Miami Marauders were on the outside of the playoff race looking in. Optimism within the team was low, and it looked like a team that appeared to have all it needed on paper to mount a title challenge would, in the end, flatter to deceive.

 

However, a remarkable run of form that saw the team lose a handful of their remaining 25 games in the regular season left the Marauders in second place in the minor league’s Eastern Conference.

 

In the first round of the playoffs, the Marauders faced off against the San Diego Marlins, in what turned out to be a dramatically close contest. Both teams traded wins over the first four games of the series, before the Marauders took a 6-4 victory in Game 5 to put them within one win of a place in the Semi-Finals.

 

The California club roared back with an impressive 4-2 victory in Game 6 to set up a do-or-die Game 7. In the series decider, @Sportsboy57 put in a performance to remember on the backend, racking up three assists, as Noah Mashford @Mashy netted the series clinching goal to send the Marauders into the next round.

 

“The Marlins gave us a really tough series. They came to play every night, and they created a whole load of problems for us. I think Mashy had eight goals in that series alone, and he was amazing for us throughout all seven games. It felt really good to get that win in the final game and it gave us a lot of confidence going forward,” Jan Hlozek, defenseman for the Marauders, said in a interview with the Czech hockey portal Hockey.cz.

 

The Marauders were expecting to play the Saskatoon Wild in the Semi-Finals, although the Saskatoon-based club shockingly bowed out of the playoffs at the first stage. As a result, the Marauders had a date with the Las Vegas Aces to decide who would get to play for the Founder’s Cup.

 

After struggling to put together a string of consistent performances against the Marlins, few could have expected what happened next.

 

Miami opened the series on home ice with a 4-3 victory in Game 1. In the next game, Mashford racked up four points as the Marauders stormed to a 5-1 win.

 

The series headed to the desert with the Marauders needing just two more wins to book their place in the final. The Aces outshot the Marauders in Game 3, but @ClapbombsRus stood tall. Delving Mackey @Jurell Yurki, who burst into form late in the season, eventually scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory.

 

Game 4 of the Semi-Finals would also go to overtime after the Aces tied up a back-and-forth game midway through the final period. However, Alexander The Great @Shiny netted on the powerplay early in the extra frame to send the South Beach club to the Finals on the back of a historic sweep.

 

“The Aces are a great franchise and all the games, apart from Game 2, were super close. I mean, the final two games went to overtime, and the games could have gone either way. I think we got some good bounces in this series, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t deserve to make the Finals. We knew we were playing well, and the guys were truly dialled in,” Hlozek said.

 

The Mississauga Hounds were a force to be reckoned with throughout the VHLM regular season. Boasting a 62-10-0 record, many bookmakers had stopped taking bets on who would lift the Founder’s Cup given the strength of the Ontarian team’s roster, and few thought that the Marauders stood a chance.

 

“We struggled against Mississauga all season, that’s definitely true. They had such a strong, deep roster, that they really posed us a lot of problems. Thankfully, management @InstantRockstar @tinafrombobsburgers put in a lot of work with us, showing us video, giving us a blueprint that they thought could beat the Hounds,” Hlozek remarked.

 

It took the Marauders all of 97 seconds to find the back of the net in Game 1, with Napoleon Bonaparte scoring the first goal of the S77 Founder’s Cup Finals.

 

The Hounds ended up taking the lead midway through the second period, but a pair of goals from Jah Coon @denns and Delving Mackey gave the Marauders a one-goal lead going into the final frame, before Declan Wolf @MrShark buried the insurance marker early in the third to give the Marauders a 1-0 series lead.

 

Game 2 was a much tighter affair, in part thanks to a 38-save performance by Marauders goaltender ClapbombsRUs. In the end, a pair of goals from Alexander The Great and Trevor Wallace @LilHCorny less than 90 seconds apart in the second period were enough to give the Miami club a 2-1 victory, putting them in the drivers’ seat as the series headed to Florida.

 

“Everyone played their hearts out in Mississauga. I can’t say enough about how good Clapper was in net for us, especially in Game 2. He stole us that game. Despite how confident we were, I don’t think we could have imagined that we would be going back to Miami with a 2-0 series lead. It was simply incredible,” Hlozek stated.

 

On home ice, the Marauders took the game to the Hounds in Game 3, outshooting them 38-24. Despite going behind early, Declan Wolf and Alexander The Great scored in the first frame to put the Marauders ahead after 20. Jan Hlozek added another marker in the second as the Marauders won 3-2, putting them within one victory of the title.

 

The Founder’s Cup was in the building as the Marauders took to the ice against the Hounds in Game 4. Once again, the Hounds took an early lead only to be pegged back. Trevor Wallace netted on a shorthanded break late in the second period to give the Marauders a 2-1 lead going into the third, and potentially final, period of the VHLM season.

 

“The dressing room was calm in that period break. I think the guys knew that we just had to stick to what we had done throughout the series and the playoffs to date. If we did that, we knew that the Hounds were getting frustrated, that they were nervous. Our coaching staff didn’t say much, nor did the guys in the room, although Napoleon Bonaparte @CptSquall, as he always does, really got us going. We had all the motivation we needed,” Hlozek said.

 

The third period of Game 4 was littered with penalties, and despite some heroic defending from both sides, something had to give. It looked like the Hounds had found some life late in the third period as Gaspar Zakrevsky eventually scored with just three minutes left on the clock to tie the game at 2 apiece.

 

Ill-discipline would eventually cost Mississauga though, as Joakim Lund went to the box for a hooking minor with just two minutes left in the third period, and the Marauders once again made the Hounds pay on the powerplay.

 

As the pressure built, both Damien Salducci @Deee.Geee and Declan Wolf missed the net on a pair of grade A opportunities, but Alexander The Great lived up to his name, as the Marauders forward corralled the puck and beat Luke Spinelli in the Mississauga net to send the Marauders players, coaches, and fans into raptures.

 

As the final seconds of Game 4 wound down, some players pointed to the sky to remember loved ones no longer with us, while others hugged each other on the bench.

 

Gloves, sticks and helmets went flying as the timer hit zero and the buzzer sounded, as the Marauders players rushed onto the ice to mob ClampbombsRUs who put in another stellar performance in net to lead the South Beach club to a historic Founder’s Cup victory.

 

“Moments like that are why you play hockey. We play to win. We play for glory. To be able to share that moment with guys that you grow to love throughout the season is something special. You always have to be thankful for these moments because some guys go through their whole career without winning anything. The celebrations were truly amazing,” Hlozek said.

 

Hlozek has now completed two full VHLM seasons after he was drafted by the Riga Reign in the S77 VHL Entry Draft. After two full campaigns in North America honing his trade, the Czech blueliner is set to move back to Europe to take his place in the topflight with the Latvian club.

 

“Maybe I didn’t have the season that I wanted from a personal point of view, but I think this year was really important to teach me about adversity, about never giving up, and keeping faith with the program. I had my concerns, as all players did, but I think this season showed what you can achieve if you buy in,” Hlozek said.

 

The Topolna native said that he would spend a couple of days back home with his family celebrating the title win before getting into a committed offseason practice regimen to get himself mentally and physically ready for playing hockey at the highest level.

 

“I’ve still got a long way to go. I need to improve my skating, and I definitely need to get bigger. However, I’ll remember this season for the rest of my life, and I’m truly grateful,” Hlozek concluded.

 

Spoiler

1,560 words, claiming for weeks 16.05, 23.05, 30.05.

 

[tinafrombobsburgers 367]

[Bojovnik 487]

Week 2 

[Bojovnik 487]

Claiming Week 3

[Seabass 593]

Review

 

Overall this was a good read as you went through the Maurauders journey to the Founder's Cup championship. You described some of the adversity you and your team had to go through and even added player quotes to get more of a feel for how your player felt. You described turning points such as the hooking minor that puts things in a better perspective for the reader. The article could've used the help of some images but I had fun reading this as I was surprised to see you guys sweep the aces and then beat the heavily favored Hounds. 

 

Too bad that Wild/Maurauder series never happened!

 

8/10