In their first ever playoff game, the Cattle Barons beat the IceDogs 5-4 in the first semi-final game. O.J. Deelstra led his team to victory with four goals in the game. He earns the Player of the Game. The Cattle Barons held a 5-1 lead half-way through the third period, but Jordan DeBoer made it a close game when he scored three consecutive goals for the IceDogs. The IceDogs put the pressure on to tie it up late in the game, but the Cattle Barons used their combined total of a "whopping" two playoff games experience in our league (Trevor Benjamins is the only Cattle Baron with any playoff games in our League under his belt) and held on for the win.

The other semi-final game between the Omegas & Hawks ended in a 3-2 win by the Hawks. The Omegas got off to an early 2-0 lead thanks to two goals by Dave Giffen. They held on to the 2-0 lead until the third period. The first shift of the third period was a big one for the Hawks. In this shift they tied the game up thanks to goals by Calvin Pelleboer & Kyle Huzinga. Kyle's goal was a beauty shot from just inside the blueline that dinged in off the crossbar. We'll give Kyle the nod for the Player of the Game.

After an exciting regular season that came right down to the wire, its time to start the playoffs.
The first round match-ups are now set with the IceDogs playing against the Cattle Barons and the Hawks playing against the Omegas.
Here is a quick review of the first round of the playoff's schedule:

Friday, March 8 @ the PT. Edward Arena
7:00pm - IceDogs vs. Cattle Barons
8:10pm - Hawks vs. Omegas

Saturday, March 9 @ the RBC Centre (rink 2)
5:15pm - Omegas vs. Hawks
6:25pm - Cattle Barons vs. IceDogs

Friday, March 15 @ the Pt. Edward Arena
7:00pm - IceDogs vs Cattle Barons
8:10pm - Hawks vs Omegas (this game may be bumped up to the 7:00pm start if the other series is over in two games)

Note: You will notice that the start times for the second game of each night is only 1 hour and 10 minutes after the start of the first game of each night. This is done to make sure that everyone in the second game of each night is ready to go as soon as the first game of each night is over (plus a flood). If any of these games go to a 10 minute "stop time" overtime, we need to make sure that we don't waste any time waiting for players to show up.
As close as these four teams were this regular season, my guess is that overtime will be needed in at least one or two games.

Brandon Wilpstra of the Stars hit the 50 minute mark in penalties and will be suspended from playing in the first two games of next season.

Brett DeBoer of the IceDogs also hit the 50 minute mark in penalties and will also be suspended from playing in the first two games next season. These "accumulative penalty" suspensions do not effect playoff games, so Brett is okay to play in next week's playoff games.

Duncan Vanderwal of the IceDogs surpassed the 40 minute mark in penalties and will be suspended from playing in the first two games next season. He is also okay to play in next week's playoff games.

In the early game, the Hawks kept up their winning streak going into the playoffs with a 9-6 win over the Stars. The Hawks held a lead throughout the game, but the Stars stayed in the game the whole way through. An empty netter scored by the Hawks in the last minute of the game put an end to the Stars' miserable season. Dave VanOostveen is the Player of the Game. He scored four goals and added two assists in the Hawks' victory. The Hawks were playing to win it because they knew that their victory would give them a shot at first overall in the standings.

The middle game between the Omegas & IceDogs was a battle of the top two teams going into the evening. The IceDogs were able to pull off a 5-3 win and earned themselves the top seed going into the playoffs. Matt Tamminga earns the Player of the Game honours. He scored twice and added an assist in the IceDogs' victory. Brothers - Joe & Brett DeBoer each had three points of their own in the game. The loss dropped the Omegas to the third seed in the standings.

The most important game of the night was the late game between the Flyers & the Cattle Barons. Basically - whatever team was to win this game would be in the playoffs - the losing team would be out. The Cattle Barons won the game 4-1 and earned their franchise's (Cattle Barons & formerly the Cougars) first ever trip to the post season. This was a tough one to pick out just one Player of the Game, so I'm gonna "wimp out" again and make it between three co-winners all from the Cattle Barons. They are Kevin Ryan, O.J. Deelstra, & Steve Pastoor. Kevin & O.J. each got two goals and an assist, while Steve was stellar in net to give his team the win.

Dan Feenstra of the Hawks surpassed the 30 minute mark in penalties in his game against the Cattle Barons this past Friday. This means that Dan is suspended from playing in the game this week (March 1). He will be allowed to play again in the first game of the playoffs.