Playoff Review: Second Round

Mr_Hatter · January 5, 2020

Playoff Review: Second Round

The second round of playoffs have come and gone, and into the finals, we go (or went, as games one and two have already been played!). Let's take a look back at the games that decided our Continental Cup finalists to see what went right for them, and what went wrong for their opponents.

Seattle Bears vs. Vancouver Wolves

In the highly anticipated North American semifinal matchup, we saw two juggernauts go toe-to-toe in an attempt to claim their spot in the finals. Both teams came off the back of a seven-game series that saw their team come out on top. The Seattle Bears were sent on to the next round via an overtime winner from their marquee free-agency signing of the offseason Dan Wilinsky that saw them past the New York Americans. The Vancouver Wolves were able to see out their series against the Toronto Legion, and thus, our North American semifinal matchup was set. Going into the series, Vancouver was considered the slight favourite, due to their regular-season record, but anyone counting out the Bears on a possible repeat cup would soon be proven sorely mistaken.

The series started out with a bang, as Seattle took the victory in exciting overtime. Henrik Zoiderberg was the star of the night, scoring two and assisting two for a massive four-point game - everything went through him, although John Frostbeard took the game-winner for himself. The next game swung right back around, however, as Greg Eagles and the rest of the Vancouver defence shutout the Bears with a fantastic performance, perfect on 22 shots. The next game was once again taken by Eagles, but was really just a fantastic goalie battle between him and Bears netminder Rayz Funk. Both made over 30 saves, each allowing just a single goal until the second overtime period where Julius Freeman ended the game on a power play in favour of the Wolves, with Eagles even getting the secondary assist.

Despite being down 2-1 in the series at this point, the margins had been razor-thin for the Bears, and this is where their luck began to change. They took game four by a score of 3-2, with an Acyd Burn game-winner, though penalty troubles threatened their victory, as Berocka Sundqvist took a hat trick of penalties in the first period alone, with both Vancouver goals coming on the power play. With the series now tied up, it was up in the air for either side to take, and take it the Bears did. Game five went their way, scoring three goals to Vancouver’s two after another great performance from the Seattle netminder. In the decisive game six, the Bears shut down the Wolves, almost doubling their shots (42 to 22), beating them by a final score of 2-1. Despite a fantastic 40 save game from Greg Eagles, Seattle was too much for Vancouver to handle, and they secured their spot in the playoff finals.

Although this series failed to go to seven games, it truly was a close matchup, with all but one of the games being decided by a single goal, the only outlier being the 2-0 game two.

Riga Reign vs. Moscow Menace

Across the pond we saw the Latvian kings, the Riga Reign take on the Moscow Menace for their shot to the finals. Both teams won their first-round matchup, but the second round wasn’t quite as kind to the underdogs from Moscow.

Game one saw the Reign triumphant after Shane Mars sent the game to overtime with six minutes left on a powerplay in the third period. The Reign doubled down and took the first game of the series off another power-play goal, this time the game-winner coming from star forward Rauno Palo. Moscow’s top players performed well, with each of Jet Jaguar, Randoms, and Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen getting two points apiece, but their depth was lacking compared to the Reign, which had seven players registering at least a point compared to Moscow’s three. Randoms, in particular, did play well, earning the first star with his two goals on six shots, in addition to a whopping seven hits, but it was not enough for the Menace.

The rest of the series, barring the fourth game, proved to be a bit more of a one-sided affair. Riga came out swinging in game two with a 6-1 statement victory. Ryan Kastelic proved once again why he is a dominant force in the VHL with a four-point game, splitting his assists and goals to two apiece. Khalabib Stiopic also performed quite well, turning up at a +3 on the night with only 23 minutes played. Game three saw Kallis Kriketers take his good form to the next level as the Reign dismantled the Menace, shutting out their opponents while scoring four. Elias Dahlberg assisted three times in this smackdown, all but sealing the deal, as the Reign took a 3-0 series lead.

Game four saw a surprise Moscow victory based off the previous two games, as Kritekers had an uncharacteristically poor night, with a save percentage of .857. The game was scoreless after the first period, but the second saw a flurry of goals, with Moscow scoring three and Riga one. Despite narrowing the lead to just a single goal halfway through the third, Riga was unable to complete the comeback, and so they dropped a game to the Menace.

The decisive game of the series started out a close one, as both teams went into the third period with a goal apiece. In fact, the game was tied until 13 minutes into the third when the Reign blitzed the Menace for 3 goals in only a minute and a half, dashing any hopes of a reverse sweep that Moscow had. The collapse was an unfortunate one for cup hopeful Finn Davison, whose trade to Moscow near the deadline marked their goal of competing, but proved a sad ending to an uncharacteristically poor series from last season’s goaltender of the year.

Closing thoughts

The finals matchup between Riga and Seattle should be a great one (in fact, they have already played two games, one of them went to four (!) overtime periods, the other was a nervy 1-0 victory). Both teams have been playing fantastic hockey, with two netminders in Rayz Funk and Kallis Kritekers who have been playing out of their minds. The series should be a tight one, as Seattle seeks a repeat, while the Reign are trying for a cup for some of their ageing core. Expect this series to go all the way to a game seven; or at the very least, have some tight, tight games.

Players Mentioned: @oilmandan, @HenrikZoiderberg, @FrostBeard, @Greg_Di, @Rayzor_7, @rjfryman,

@Acydburn, @Berocka, @Spade18, @jRuutu, @gorlab, @hedgehog337, @flyersfan1453,

@Enorama, @SweetMike666, @Nykonax, @Poptart

VSN Writer Mr_Hatter