On Thursday night at the Evinrude Center, the Intramural Hockey league played their semi-final games to determine who would be playing for the Gold in the finals the following Monday night.
The first game started at 10:15 p.m. with the Honey Nut Chelios (White) taking on the Philly Fakeouts (Orange). The two teams gave it everything they had and did not give up until the final buzzer sounded. The Philly Fakeouts were victorious in the end, winning the game 7-3.
The Philly Fakeouts were the first to make an appearance on the score board as they scored the first goal of the game, one minute into the first period, and they were not going to stop there. Two minutes later, they scored their second goal. The Honey Nut Chelios were trying their hardest to fight back and gain possession of the puck. With two minutes left in the first period, they finally got the upper hand as the Philly Fakeouts spent two minutes in the penalty box. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t get the puck in the net, and the Philly Fakeouts scored a third goal with the power play.
With only 45 seconds left, the Honey Nut Chelios made their way onto the board with their first penalty of the game, and they were able to hold off their opponents until the buzzer sounded. At the start of the second period, once again the Philly Fakeouts took their one-man advantage and scored a goal, terminating the Honey Nut Chelios’ penalty. The Honey Nut Chelios decided it was time to kick it up a notch, and not even a minute later scored their first goal of the game.
Their second goal followed soon after, as they began to close the gap. With the Honey Nut Chelios now having two goals, the Philly Fakeouts decided to retaliate and scored two more goals before the period came to an end, making the score 6-2.
During the final period, the puck went back and forth between both teams as the goalies were making tremendous saves, but they could not all be stopped, as both teams were able to score one more goal before the final buzzer, making the final score of the game 7-2. With this win, the Philly Fakeouts continue onto the finals to fight for the gold.
The second game started at 11:15 with the Steel Shockers (Red) taking on S.A (Grey). Both teams played phenomenally, but only one could come out on top and win the game. Lucky for the Steel Shockers, they won the game 5-3, and locked their place in the finals.
Throughout the entire first period, the teams were neck and neck, making shot for shot. Both teams wanted to be the ones to score the first goal of the game, but that pleasure could only go to one, the Steel Shockers. They scored that first goal two minutes into the period, but not even a minute later S.A scored a goal of their own, tying the score 1-1.
The second period began with both teams wanting to get the upper hand, and five minutes into the period the Steel Shocker finally got their chance as S.A received a two-minute penalty. Only 20 seconds into the penalty the Steel Shockers got the advantage they had been waiting for and scored their second goal of the game, which ended S.A’s penalty.
Once S.A was back at full power, they retaliated and scored their second goal of the game, once again tying the score. The two teams were once again butting heads, which resulted in a double penalty.
For the third time this game, the teams each scored one goal after another. It wasn’t until there was only six seconds left in the period that the Steel Shockers scored their fourth goal, making the score 4-3, heading into the third period.
The S.A skated as hard as they could to try to get past the opposing team’s defenses, but it was not enough. They were unable to score another goal to tie the game. This was good news for the Steel Shockers, as they scored one more goal with only two minutes left in the final period, securing their place in the finals, and winning the game 5-3.
The finals for the gold will take place on Monday, March 4, at 10:15 p.m., followed by the Bronze medal game at 11:15 p.m.. Good luck in the finals, boys!