Yeah, poor Matt. Only 1 goal last night apparently. How hard for you.

So the final round-robin rankings are finished, with Ducks finishing ahead of Bullfrogs by one point, with both teams undefeated in the round-robin. Sharks with their draw against Beasts finish on 3rd, and JMs stay ahead of the pack for 4th place.

Bullfrogs cleaned out SK8 6-2, aided by the fact that the SK8 goalie didn’t turn up for the second week in a row. Van Leuwen and Smith get doubles, and MacDonald, Bulling pick up one each.

Bulls hammer Kings 10-1. Kings again let down by no Damien Watson. Garrett Wilson nets a goal, but you can’t expect one person to carry a team alone, and Bulls take full advantage of the situation and share goals around half the squad.

Ducks beat JMs 5-2: Johnnies were apparently close for the first period, but it got away in the second and they weren’t able to get back. Ducks continue to roll on and look near impossible to beat in the finals. Aitken misses out on the hat trick for the first time all season.

Sharks draw Beasts 4-4: As predicted this game finished tied up after Beasts were 3-0 up at the end of the first, Sharks tied it up at 3-3 in the second, and then one more each in the final period saw the points shared. Probably a game that Beasts would rue if they’d been closer on points differential to John McGlashan. Sharks share the goals around, Stefan King gets a double for the Beasties.

Off ice: Goal judging long gone out the window. No one complains to Kyle that they don’t know when they’re playing. Guess they figure we’ll tell them?

stats updated, I’ll await the corrections!

[quote:20u2q3ah]Kings vs Bulls: Kyle’s pick: 4 – 3 to Bulls. Damien and Garrett to get one each, Keiler to score a famous late goal. Bell, Rane Phipps-Black, and Hendry to share the Bulls goals.[/quote:20u2q3ah]

Kings really came up against it here, with neither top player turning up, they had to ride it out. 8-0 isn’t a bad score given that the Bulls were laying it on, and Kings only got one shot at goal the whole game – they played some good defense at times, and have improved throughout the DIHL well. Hopefully we’ll see them all back in the B pool competition in September.

[quote:20u2q3ah]SK8 vs Beasts: Kyle’s pick: Game to finish in extra time, SK8 to come out winners with the golden goal taking them to 5-4. King and Li to net for Beasts, Jessie Roth, Squire and Wick to net for SK8, with Roth taking the winner.[/quote:20u2q3ah]

SK8, with a goalie this week, take this out 6-3, in what developed into a really rough game. SK8 racked up 20 penalty minutes, most of them to previously stood down player Shawn Hinson, who takes ten minutes for roughing on his third time in the box. Beasts also totally unhappy with his actions hacking away at goalie Nick Metzger. The game was already gone though, and Beasts heading to an unhappy finish to the season playing Kings for the wooden spoon. Beasts just unable to put enough shots on the SK8 net to be competitive, though the eight they took, netted three goals, so that’s a good conversion rate. Not entirely sure what’s up with SK8 – six penalties in a DIHL game is a joke, c’mon, it’s just a social competition guys.

[quote:20u2q3ah]Bullfrogs vs Sharks: Kyle’s pick: 4-3 to the Bullfrogs, in a close match decided late in the last period. Smith, Bulling, and van Leuwen to net for the ‘frogs, Christos to get a double and Gilchrist one for the Sharks.[/quote:20u2q3ah]

Oh my god. Controversy will dog this game for years to come. In future times, hockey players will sit around and talk about the Bullfrogs/Sharks semi-final 2006. It’ll be the try that never was on the 1905 All Blacks loss to Wales. It’ll be the Andy Hayden lineout fall from the Lions tour. The 1995 World Cup ‘drugging’ incident, of Dunedin Ice Hockey. What a game.

Big call number one, when referees rule that Megan Gilchrist’s goal, which dribbled past goalie Rhys Leask, crossed over the line. No goal judges (Jack Li, where were your Beasts on duty?!?), and despite a dozen spectators claiming the puck never fully crossed the line, the goal is given.

Number two, late in the game, with the Bullfrogs having pulled their goalie, and hard on attack with the extra skater, Simon Christos gets called for high sticking. Despite the Bullfrogs being in control of the puck, a referee’s whistle blows, just a split second before Pete Sandford buries the puck in the back of the Sharks net, a goal that would have tied it up and taken it to overtime golden goal. The rules are clear though, if the whistle has blown, nothing after that can count, so the ‘frogs just have to fume and call the timeout, with 19 seconds left. They can’t do it though, and Sharks hold on for a hell of a win, which the Bullfrogs will curse the refereeing of forever.

[quote:20u2q3ah]John McGlashan vs Ducks: Kyle’s pick: Ducks to take it away, 4-2. Weir and Cleugh to net for JMs, Tony Pasco to have some big saves in net. Matt and Matt to get two each for the Ducks.[/quote:20u2q3ah]

I was drowning my sorrows in the pub, so I didn’t see this game. Johnnies were never really in it however, with Matt Weir again absent, the game was gone by the end of the first period. Reay and Aitken pick up hat tricks, Hellyer gets an early goal, and Ducks take it 8-1, on their way to face the Sharks in the final.

[quote:20u2q3ah]Off ice: Let’s get some goal-judging going on people! Grumbling from the Sharks that they had a goal which went in last week, which the referees didn’t notice, and no goal judges were present. Things starting to heap up out on the ice as teams stack lines, pick up the aggression, and we start to see what seperates the good from the great. And other sports cliches.[/quote:20u2q3ah]

By crikey, goal judging! It’s the semis! Bitterness! Wrath! The aggression really topped out in the SK8 game, some of those young boys need to settle down a bit. 20 penalty minutes in a DIHL game is a joke! Otherwise the level of play was good hard hockey.

[quote:33kpdqiw][quote:33kpdqiw]The ‘Points after the Round Robin’ after the round robin are still messed up, but I presume you’ve given up on that.[/quote:33kpdqiw]

Er, what’s wrong with them? I thought everything was perfect now.[/quote:33kpdqiw]

Oh no, you’re right. My bad.

Anyone wanna volunteer to do the stats next season?

That git who used to do them should retire I think ops:

Yes that’s right, after last week turned into a bit more of “Let’s get ready to ruuummmbbbllleee!” than hockey, it’s big finals night. Four games, all looking like they’ll be good, but only the big one at 9pm matters. Lets get straight down to business.

Kings vs Beasts: With only one win this season, you’d normally be picking Kings to lose to Beasts, but of course, their win was a big 6-2 drubbing of the Beasts, so all bets are off in this game. For the Kings, it’s the same story – who will be there on the night. Last week they were left all alone, and caught it heavy from the Bulls, but they look an entirely different team when both Garrett and Damien are on ice. They’ve been working hard all season, and will be looking for a repeat victory over the Beasties to help launch their schools competition, which has just started. The Beasts are a bit of a different story, they’ve looked good in patches this season, but at vital times their defense has just opened up gaping holes, and the goals have flowed. Their better players – Stefan King, Matt Newton, Kurt Bowen need to take the puck up themselves more, and pepper the goalie with shots. Kyle’s pick: 5-3 to the Beasts, Watson to get a double for Kings, King, Newton and Sedgwick to net for the Beasties.

Bulls vs SK8: A couple of teams that came close for the semis this year, but left their run too late after a bunch of early close losses. SK8 won their game last week, but it really was a shocker, with 20 penalty minutes clocked up, and some real rough stuff which saw the Beasts players getting seriously unhappy. If SK8 can’t tidy up their game then there’s going to be some questions as to whether some of them should be back next time. Key for them – I’d like to say keeping players out of the box, but unfortunately last week they still won with a shocking penalty count – getting some of their stars having good shots in front of the net on the Bulls goalie. Bulls will be looking to finish on a high after the defending champions fired too late this season. Key for them, a good game from Blackett in goal, who’s been quietly putting up some good results this season, and getting sufficient shots on SK8 goalie Kinraid, who’ll leak a bit under pressure. Kyle’s pick: 3-2 to Bulls, Blackett to save the game for his team with a couple of big late saves, Rane Phipps-Black to break the deadlock late in the game.

Bullfrogs vs John McGlashan: The playoff for third and fourth, this should be a good game, after Bullfrogs took the round-robin by only 4-3. Bullfrogs will still be spitting over a couple of referee calls in the semi-final, but John McGlashan will be looking for revenge for a loss which saw them, rather than the Sharks, facing Ducks in the semis. Key for the Bullfrogs, working their strong defense up into offensive positions, without letting the breakaways through – Johnnies have a couple of players who will eat up the ice and put good shots on goalie Leask if they get through. Key for Johnnies – working as a team to keep down the Bullfrogs offense, and then getting good chances on goalie Leask – a Johnnies boy who’ll be playing for their first team in net this year. Kyle’s pick: Bullfrogs 4-3. Smith and Bulling to score, Bulling to continue his tradition of ending up in the box once in every game. Small scuffle to break out early on in the match – silly silly boys, it’s just a game! Weir and Cleugh to net for JMs.

Ducks vs Sharks: This is the big one, the final. The ducks steam roller moves on, one more win and it will be almost the perfect season. Sharks pulled off a big game last week, when with some help from the referees, they landed themselves a finals match. Can they step it up another notch and put some heat on the Ducks to give themselves a chance. Key for the Ducks: keep on doing. Their formula has been working well all year, keeping shots down on their big doorstop of a goalie, Toby Schuck, who’s let in only single figures all season, and putting some superior heat on the opposition, weaving their way through the defense and piling up the assists with good passes. It’s been working well for them so far. Key for the Sharks, meeting a couple of Ducks players – Matt Aitken and Toby Schuck ought to do it – at the door and dealing out some off-ice justice. Failing that, shutting down the opposition offense. Sticking two good defenders who can shut down Matt’s, Aitken and Reay, and sticking to them like glue. Sharks have an offense that can score against the opposition goalie – Simon Christos has got a bunch this season, and Cory MacDonald has also piled up some points, with Gilchrist and Pielak-Jones likely assists and goal scorers as well – but they’re not going to get four or five, they’re going to get two, maybe three if they really go well, so they’ve got to shut the opposition down, and when they can’t, Sharks goalie has got to pull off some big saves.

All this being said, you’d get some really long odds to beat against the Ducks, who have been the form team of the whole DIHL. Kyle’s pick: Ducks to take it, 5-2. Matt Reay to get a couple, Hellyer to also net, as will Knyvett. Aitken to miss out, well because he was rude to me. Christos to get a double. Game will unfortunately be gone by the third period.

Off Ice: People get registration forms for next DIHL. No one able to make sense of split grades at all. Many questions. Referees to feel burning shame from mistakes of the week before. Burning I tell you! Bullfrogs sulk during final.

Beasts? I picked them to win, what can they complain about?

And for Matt, “Psychology is an [in]exact science.”

I was thinking more, half a dozen people doing the off-ice justice. Except for Matt, he’s pretty scrawny, I think Zanzee could sort him out.