Friday March 23, 2012 – Pilgrim Arena Hingham
Ed couldn’t make it out to the game at the last minute, and without any substitute goalies in sight, the Kings took a 1-0 forfeit loss on the game. Final game before the playoffs is next Thursday at 9pm in Brockton vs. the Icebergs, see you then.
At this point, we have two games remaining before playoffs start, and we need only one more point to lock up 3rd place in the division. Depending on how the games shake out it’s likely we’ll face one of Baked Beans, Anarchy or River Rats in the first round. This year it’s back to double-elimination (except for the bottom two teams, that have a one-game play-in); each of those teams have given us trouble in the past and we can’t look past them. No one wants to play out of the loser’s bracket.
The playoff schedule is posted – you can see it here, search for the C3 division. Though the seeds aren’t locked up yet, I don’t think we can fall farther than 4th which means we’re likely starting the playoffs in Quincy on Thursday April 12th, and then play again on Sunday April 15th. It’s a long layoff til then but *all* the division games will be played within two weeks from that starting date, so there’ll be plenty of hockey in that stretch. Stay in game shape!
Thursday March 15, 2012 – UMass Boston
Richie Hartel backstopped the Kings to a shutout 3-0 win over Baked Beans at UMass last night in a back-and-forth, tight checking game with precious few solid scoring opportunities. The Kings finally broke through in the first when Frank snuck in low and did some good work in the right corner, feeding it out to Fran who was wide open in the slot. After that it was fairly quiet as neither goaltender saw too much rubber except for long range shots; in the 2nd the Kings got a little offense going and managed some much better chances, including a sequence where the Beans goalie had to make 3 quick saves to keep the puck out. JRod finally doubled the lead with a low wrister glove side. The Beans put some good pressure on after this, including a few shifts where we just couldn’t clear the puck, but the defense held strong with some timely saves by Richie. Finally, a late goal by Greg on a spinning puck sent to the right post by Ian cemented the win.
Sunday March 4, 2012 – Canton Sportsplex
A solid effort by the entire Kings squad generated a 5-2 victory over Anarchy last night. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first, Anarchy battled back to tie it in the 2nd. The Kings got a bunch of good chances on net but the Anarchy goaltender turned them aside, until Alan skated up the gut and fired a low shot on net through traffic that would prove to be the gamewinner. Anarchy didn’t give up, getting some good scoring chances throughout, but Ed shut them all down including another open ice breakaway. After Frank left the game with an apparent head injury, a penalty put Bermy in the box late in the 3rd and we had only two defensemen out for the kill. Nevertheless the Kings withstood the powerplay, and scored a SHG when Jon G raced the puck on the left side and hit J-rod on the right wing, who buried a low shot that took the air out of the opposition. J completed the hat trick with an ENG for the win.
Solid effort all around guys – seems like we’re heating up at the right time. Only 3 regular season games left until playoffs. Don’t forget the summer season starts right after – check your email for info on cost and schedule.