Playoffs - Part One

Well, this weekend had mixed results for my teams in the playoffs. It actually started on Thursday evening as the San Jose Sharks played their first game in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Red Wings in Detroit. The Sharks were able to score two quick goals in 24 seconds in the first period and make that hold up for the entire game. It wasn’t an easy game, but they stuck to their game and managed to win the game. Saturday afternoon’s game was another tough one. Once again the Sharks got off to a 2-0 lead and dominated early. However, the Red Wings scored a goal late in the first period to make it 2-1. The second period was scoreless, but the Wings tied the game early in the third period. Most of the third period was played almost like overtime and essentially that’s what it was as the next goal would be the eventual winner. Detroit scored with 1:24 left and despite pulling the Nabokov for the extra attacker, San Jose wasn’t able to tie the game to put it into overtime. These are two tough teams and it isn’t going to be easy for whoever wins the series. Next game is Monday in San Jose.

My other playoff team is the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. They traveled to Rochester, NY on Friday for their playoff game against the Rochester Knighthawks, the league champions. Having lost their final two regular season games to Rochester it looked like it would be a tough time to beat the Knighthawks. After the 85-mile drive to Blue Cross Arena we parked and walked to the arena to pick up the tickets we ordered. It we didn’t know better we almost would have thought this was a home game for the Bandits. There was a huge contingent of Bandit fans attired in orange and black, with pom-poms, orange wigs, etc. Once the game started it was hard to tell if there were more Bandits fans or Knighthawk fans in attendance. Although we had some Bandits fans around us, we were pretty much surrounded by Knighthawks fans. No problem for me – I don’t mind being the “rebel”. The Bandits got off to a good start, scoring two shorthanded goals, but this game would pretty much go back and forth for four quarters. Neither team was able to take control of the game and the lead changed hands several times. The Bandits had a 11-8 lead going into the fourth quarter, but Rochester was strong and took a 13-12 lead with only 2:23 left. Delby Powless scored with 1:43 left to tie the game at 13-13. John Tavares had a chance to win it for the Bandits, but was stoned by Rochester netminder Pat O’Toole as time expired. The game went into overtime and Rochester ended it with a goal at 26 seconds. Although this kept Buffalo from advancing to the championship game for the second year in a row, this loss was a lot easier to swallow than the loss in the championship game last year, where they played probably played their worst game of the year. This was a hard-fought game against the league champions and certainly had the potential to go either way. And, while talking to some of the Rochester fans after the game, we learned that we may get the championship game in Buffalo despite the Bandits loss. The circus is going to be at the Blue Cross Arena the day of the championship game so it may get moved to HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Regardless, the game is on Saturday May 12 at 4PM ET/1PM PT and will be televised on Versus.