…….LANDON HOCKEY 2-1 over St. Johns

After 3 periods, two O/Ts and 7 rounds of shoot outs (last 2 sudden death)

The excitement of HS playoff hockey is high to begin with, add to that two evenly matched competitors whose collective talents are excellent and have the skaters coached by superb teachers, technicians and tacticians. The  level of  elevated energy puts the crowd into THE NEED FOR AN AED range.

The first ~22 minutes were marked by charges up and down the ice. Both teams exhibited great passing, smart checking and well disciplined positioning. My notes, not MAPHL’s, indicated that in period 1, #30JACK LiCalsi stopped all 8 of the SJCHS Cadets SOGs, while his counterpart did not allow any of the Bears’11 shots passed him. Period 2 saw the Home Team goalie stop 8 shots, but his teammates were able to put one in the back of the Bears’ net. JACK stopped the other 5.

The fans at the Ice Gardens were buzzing as each agonizing moment: passed-shot saved, likely-to-score connection just missed, will the player checked with such force recover, what next? Landon outshot St. Johns 9-5 with the visitors still holding a +1 advantage. That was until 0:51 remaining, 6 Brown sweaters against the red-and-white uniforms (Jack left the goal) – SENIOR #13 WATTS COLCLOUGH shot and SENIOR ### REID PERHKON roofed the rebound to tie the game.

Two overtimes of a blend of aggressiveness and well-structured D by both teams resulted in 9 Cadet shots-JACK allowing no goals while the Bears peppered their opposing goalie with 17 shots to no avail.

MAPHL rules  establish that the two teams would engage first in a five inning shoot-out if one team was ahead they would win. Each team had one successful shots, i.e. no winner yet. MAPHL has a round-by-round competition. If one team scored and the other not-VICTORY. 1^st such inning no tallies. Then SENIOR #21 ELI SMINK, a defenseman by trade, beat the SJCHS netminder and then the Cadets’ 22 point forward skated a serpentine pattern to create a good angle, BUT JACK stopped the shot.

BEARS WIN, BEARS WIN THE 2024-2025 CHAMPIONSHIP.

JACK earned the 3^rd star of the game and ELY, not just for his GWG, earned the 1^st star for his incredible defense.

BEARS 2 CADETS 1