Vudoos Eliminate ooff

Monday, June 13, 2016

The Spring 2016 PTAHL Playoffs would get started with this Division IV quarterfinal matchup featuring the second place Vudoo taking on the expansion Ooff! The Vudoo were the favorites in this game, but Ooff! put up a good fight against them a few times in the regular season. Pete Peterson and Dean Bogner kept this game scoreless until Will Dimock put the Vudoo ahead with two and a half minutes to go in the period. However, Ed Laban scored a buzzer-beater to tie the game heading into the second.

This nailbiter remained even at one until halfway through the second period when rookie Rene Merghart put the Vudoo on top. Two minutes later, Dimock scored again to open up a two-goal lead. It was short-lived though as Rich Hernandez scored 37 seconds later, bringing Ooff! back within a goal. Ben Darago took an untimely hooking penalty just six seconds later, but his teammates did a great job killing the penalty until they no longer needed to because Ray Ziesse took a roughing penalty halfway into the Vudoo powerplay. After a minute of four on four, Ooff! went on the powerplay, but the Vudoo killed it off, and Pat "Crack Your Back" Mack scored just six seconds after the Vudoo returned to full strength to make it 4-2.

Ooff! went into the third period very determined to pull off a major upset, but they would face some adversity five and a half minutes into the period as Anthony Chango was sent off for interference. Once again, the Ooff! penalty kill got the job done, but they were now left with only half of a period remaining and were still down by a pair. Vudoo nearly took a three-goal l lead with five minutes to go, but Bogner came up with a huge windmill leg pad save to keep his team in the game. However, Ooff! would get into penalty trouble once again with four minutes to go as leading scorer Rich Hernandez was given a minor for holding the stick, coinciding with a Tom Godon hooking call. They remained at full strength, but their leading scorer was now in the penalty box when they needed him the most, and the Vudoo ensured that he would not see the ice again as they kept play moving in the final two minutes, knowing that a stoppage would allow Hernandez to return to the ice. The Ooff! pulled Bogner for an extra skater with 27 seconds to go, but it did not pay off as Vudoo held on for a hard-fought 4-2 win.

Ooff! will take the summer off to regroup and will return for the fall/winter season planning on being more competitive. In the meantime, the Vudoo are looking forward to their semifinal matchup next Sunday against the Biohazards.

Click header to sort. Ledgend: GP: Games Played; G: Goals; A: Assists; PTS: Points; PIM: Penalties in Minutes; GWG: Game Winning Goals; GTG: Game Tying Goals; PPG: Power Play Goals; SHG: Short Handed Goals; SOA: Shoot Out Attempts; SOG: Shoot Out Goals; MIN: Minutes Played; GA: Goals Against; AVG: Goals Against Average; W: Wins; L: Losses; SOW: Shoot Out Wins; SOL: Shoot Out Losses; SO: Shut Outs; Saves: Saves; %: Save Percentage.