League News - Edit News

News From :

News Title :

News :

Stuttgart Bison - Somerville Hellcats 4-3

A shy cry is what is left for the Somerville Hellcats.

Their cinderella season in which they led the World Conference ended without a growl as their playoffs hopes were dashed by a resilient Stuttgart Bison performance who clawed their way back into the series three times before eventually clinching game 7.

"First of all, grown up near Stuttgart, I was really looking forward to this series," Hellcats GM Sebastian Horn commented. "It’s always a bit like coming home.

It might have felt like home, but the Bison were not planning to play great hosts as the team limited the Hellcats to just one victory, a 4-1 win in game 3 of the series, in Stuttgart.

Horn: "We were the no 1 seed, they were no 8. We played a great regular season, so I was confident. We played solid defense all year, the forward group proved to provide great scoring depth. I didn’t have any doubts."

The sports cliché that a regular season title means nothing if you don't follow it up in the playoffs, proved valid again.

The Hellcats managed to stay on their pink cloud winning game 1, but they needed a Kasperi Kapanen overtime goal to seal the win. It was the first sign that the Bison were not planning to go down easily. Making up for the lack of big stars, the Bison's team effort came up huge in game two were Ville Leskinen and Jiri Sekac erased around a first period Filip Forsberg goal. Backed by a 29-save performance by Connor Hellebuyck, the Bison tied the series with a 2-1 away victory in game 2.

After an impressive 4-1 victory in game 3, the general feeling was that the Hellcats had learned their lesson and would no longer understimate their opponents and they looked all set for a comfortable 3-1 series lead when Pavel Zacha's nifty deflection tied game 4 with 20 seconds left to play. The late goal, sparked the Bison-arena which saw its crowd on their feet and from that moment on it was only a matter of time before the Bison would once again tie up the series. This time it was another role player, Teemu Hartikkainen who outmuscled the Hellcats' defense and burried home behind a helpless Thomas Greiss.

Power play goals of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Schenn were sufficient to make the difference in game 5, as the Hellcats once again took the lead in the series in yet another one goal victory.

Facing elimination in game 6, the Bison made the most of their specialty teams, scoring three times with the man advantage, while keeping the Hellcats at bay for a surprising yet convicing win, forcing game 7.

GM Horn was clearly upset with what he saw from his team. "That game six was probably the worst team effort since I took over the Hellcats. It was simply unacceptable. I remember after I finished, Eric (Staal) was pale a chalk and I think Mark (Giordano) cried a bit. But please understand that the details stay in the locker room."

With the series back to Somerville, the home crowd still felt comfortable the top seeded Cats would bring home the series, not in the least boosted by a first period Brayden Schenn goal. Both teams were cautious in defense for the remainder of the first two periods. With 20 minutes of hockey left to play, Bison coach Joe Sacco realized a change was needed to turn this game around and his shuffling of the lines worked out perfectly.

Bobby Ryan and Nikita Kucherov found the net early in the third period, but it was evident the scoring wouldn't stop here. A lucky bounce gave Pavel Zacha an opportunity he would not miss, and the Bison went marching on from there.

Only a few seconds after Mark Giordano was sent to the box for holding, Ryan scored his second of the game forcing the Hellcats to open up their defense in order to push for the equalizer. Although several opportunites went wasted, the Hellcats found themselves in more trouble when William Nylander extended the Bison lead to 4-2. Despite some frantic offense in which the Hellcats peppered Hellebuyck with 21 shots in the final period, the Bison netminder was near perfect in what proved to be the biggest upset of this UHL playoffs first round.

The Bison will march on and will now meet the Tumba Wolves in the next round.

For the Hellcats a wonderful season ended in dispair.

"Up to and including game 5 we didn’t play too bad. Their goalie played one hell of a series, it’s always tough to battle a hot goalie. Who knows, if the one or the other shot had gone in we wouldn’t be here talking about our elimination,' Horn realized.

What remains is sufficient time to plan for next season and Horn was not tight lipped when it comes to the off season.

"Well, after such a disappointment there will have to be changes, right? Also we were pushing the cap limit very hard this season and we have three high profile RFAs in Kucherov, Lindholm and Forsberg. It is obvious that the face of the team will be different next season if we want to re-sign those three players. We were able to go all in this year with some players on very reasonable contracts, acquiring Keith Yandle. This team had a huge opportunity and blew it. Next year will be different, but we will still be strong. Maybe stronger with all the young talent in the system"

Horn refused to comment on the rumors that at least two of Yandle, Giordano, Staal and Oshie will have to go next off-season due to the disappointed ownership’s financial constraints, but did mention that the club is confident that players like Kubalik and Fox can help replacing them as early as next season.

Gander Slapshots - St. Jerome Average Joes 4-1

The Gander Slapshots booked themselves a ticket for the next round after eliminating the Average Joes in five games. However as one sided as that score line might look, the actual series was a whole lot closer than one would expect.

Three of the five games were decided by a single goal difference but in the end the lack of quality squad depth proved the difference.

"A few different bounces and games could have gone the other way so we can’t get too comfortable," knew Slapshots GM Tom Wagner.

The Slapshots struggled in game 1 but were able to overcome a 4-2 deficit, with Jared Spurgeon saving the day in overtime. The joy was short lived however, as John Moore's blast from the blueline with less than three minutes to play ended up as the game winning goal in a tight game 2 in a duel between two Finnish netminders Tuuka Rask  (34 stops) and Pekka Rinne (31 stops).

A pair of power play goals midway the third period opened up a 3-goal lead for the Slapshots in game 3. Mikko Koivu was able to cut the deficit to two almost instantly as the Slapshots players were still cheering but parity was not restored in the remaining minutes.

Wagner wanted to give recognition to his power play units who were a key part of this series victory. "Our power play was really clicking this series. That is what bailed us out a couple of games and we will need to continue to be strong there if we want to remain successful in the playoffs."

The strength of the bench was instrumental in game 4. With no goals scored in the first period, the Slapshots' big guns stepped up early in the second scoring twice within the first two minutes to take a 2-0 lead. David Krejci's insurance goal 3 minutes later ended up as the game winner as the Average Joes' heartwarming comeback push fell short by one goal. After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put the Average Joes on the board, Frans Nielsen's wrister brought back hopes on the Joes' bench, but the remaming 53 seconds were too short to tie the series.

Trailing 3-1, the Slapshots knew they had to pounce on the momentum and first period goals by Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund provided the perfect cushion for the team to cruise through the remaining 40 periods of play in a 5-2 victory.

The Slapshots enjoyed a welcome couple of additional rest days in preparation for their next opponents, Tilburg Trappers.

Password :

Note:
#1 : If you can�t find a Team Name in the � News From � drop box, it�s because the team has no password configured in the STHS.
#2 : The league commissioner can create, edit or delete news on behalf of Team with the League Web Password.

Back to the Top