Oooh the big final. Tomorrow night. Let’s start by looking back a bit over the team’s seasons.

Bullfrogs. After a good start, with a win over the Sharks, and a draw with the Phantoms, the Bullfrogs have slumped to being the team that almost was. Two close losses to Jonnies, and similar losses to Phantoms and Sharks in the run home have seen Bullfrogs finish last. A short lineup, and the loss of quality defenseman Andrew Kibbelwhite after the first round really hurt the team. Last game they were either screening the goalie, or letting the Phantoms players through, something they’ll want to sort out tomorrow night.

Sharks. This team kicked through fairly well after a bad start to the season, and played probably the best game of the competition when they got over the Phantoms 4-3 in a real thriller. They weren’t quite able to do it last week against Johnnies so they’re playing off against Bullfrogs. Inconsistency cost them – at times they were great, but at other times, it just wasn’t there, and they weren’t able to match it against Johnnies when it counted.

John McGlashan OB. Great to see this team in the competition, and well done to Johnnies and John Bradfield for pushing hockey up there on the hill and stretching out to another team. After a first week shocker they got their lineup sorted, and despite scrabbling around for goalies every week, they’ve played well out on the ice and finished up convincing second place. Solid defense has really helped them out – Jackson, Sinclair, Weir, Stevenson – that’s a good D lineup.

Phantoms. Form team of the competition, Phantoms have played short all DIHL, but have largely kept on winning. A single draw against Bullfrogs, and a close loss to Sharks have been their only slipups, otherwise they’ve been strong throughout, and plenty of talent to put the puck in the back of the net. They’ll be fired up for a big final.

OK, you’re all here so you can harass me at the end of Tuesday when I make the picks wrong, so let’s get straight onto it. First up, Bullfrogs vs Sharks. The teams split these games in the round-robin, so no help there. Sharks have the numbers, but Bullfrogs have come awfully close a number of games, and I’ve just got the feeling that they’re just waiting to get it together before finally getting over the line (feeling = hope!). I’m picking the game to be close, Bullfrogs to take it 3-2 near the end of the game.

And the big final. Phantoms take on Johnnies OB. First up, I understand both Jenel Bode and Steve Jackson won’t be there for the OB, but they’re calling in wily Larry Wheeler to play in place, and that their goalie is going to be big Toby Schuck, who saw them through against the Sharks earlier with a big shutout. So I figure that’s about even in terms of swapsidaisy. Phantoms are going to have their normal short lineup as far as I know. Key for Johnnies – I think Phantoms will get tried, so if they work hard, dump and chase, and make the Phantoms skate, then they’ll fall off in the third period. That’s when Sharks beat them, and that’s probably the weakness – just not enough players. Key for Phantoms – some of that individual brilliance that saw a couple of great goals last week against the Bullfrogs. If they’re two or more up going into the last period, they should get through on the hype of the final. My pick – I’m picking it’ll be an overtime victory, 2-2 at the end of ordinary time, with it to go to golden goal, Phantoms to take it, manager King to get the winner.