Rangers players celebrate ending their eight-game losing streak, image credit to Sportsnet Canada
Newfield ends their losing streak, while Portus Abonae ends their winning streak, plus Pons Aelius and DC clash
Eboracum Sharpshooters 1, Newfield Rangers 3: It's over, it's over, it's finally over! An eight-game losing streak for the Newfield Rangers came to a cathartic end in Eboracum last night. Brady Dowell, Elliott Parrish, and Toby Swan scored, one in each of the periods, to lead the Rangers to victory over a slumping Sharpshooters squad. When the game ended, the team swarmed together to celebrate, several players yelling exuberantly, glad to finally have a win. With the win, Newfield still only sits in 10th place, but they couldn't be happier to be there. Any win, any points feel good after so much misery. In the second half, they'll look to play the same scrappy hockey they played in the first round-robin, and perhaps insert themselves into the mid-table conversation. As for Eboracum, they have discovered the perfect way not to end the first half: losing five in a row. The Sharpshooters lead the league in offense, averaging nearly 2.6 goals/game, but they allow nearly 2.7. If they can't get handle on their defense, their playoff hopes will melt away. Even allowing two goals per game would represent a significant improvement, and would likely lead to a lot more success.
Aquae Sulis Bears 4, Portus Abonae Privateers 2: As the Rangers were snapping their eight-game losing streak, Aquae Sulis was putting an end to Portus' Abonae's five-game winning streak. This west Newfoundland rivalry saw David Richter and Kip Maddox score in the first period to make it 2-0, Cliff Holt cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second, and Martin Wong answer back, restoring the two-goal lead going into the third. But Tad Baines' goal at 11:24 cut the lead down to one goal again, and the two teams battled furiously for the remaining eight and a half minutes. Portus Abonae finally brought out a sixth attacker with just over a minute to go, and at 19:41, Cal Malone's shot, more of a clearance really, whizzed down the ice and found the empty net to seal the deal. The Privateers saw their momentum halted, but they have played a lot better since sinking into the bottom third of the league early on. Their 35 points isn't close to their pace from last year, and they'll have to pick it up if they expect to make it back to the playoffs. They seem to have rediscovered their offense, but can they improve their defense enough to get some stops and get some wins? Aquae Sulis isn't relevant in the playoff chase, but they can still play spoiler and chase as many points as they can, or they can sell some of their talented attackers to a higher-up club and turn to developing youth as their main priority.
Pons Aelius Steelers 0, DC Oilers 0 (1-0 OT): The first-half rubber match between these two teams ended in a way only Steelers fans could love: a 1-0 victory for Pons Aelius in overtime. Aaron Black had the winning goal at 3:17 of overtime, flipping a shot past Ted Carpenter to put the Steelers over the top. Pons Aelius' defense, led by goalkeeper Brett McQueen and defensemen Eric Ferguson and Dirk Ziegler, has yielded just 17 goals in 33 games, just over 0.5 goals/game. That is an astounding figure which more than makes up for their league-worst offense, which is averaging just under 1.3 goals/game. They have fought DC back and forth for second (or first) place all season, and now appear to be the hotter team at the moment. They are on pace for 100 points and surely harbor hopes of challenging Isca Town for first place. As for the Oilers, they are struggling through a 3-3-1 stretch to end the second half. Where once they were hot on Isca Town's heels, now they find themselves behind Pons Aelius and several points behind the Captains. They're largely safe from falling out of the playoffs, but they led the league for a little while in the early going, and a matchup against Londinium or any of the teams below them definitely sounds easier than Pons Aelius. They may look to add a piece or two to make a second-half charge.
Mancunium Raiders 2, Sept-Iles Whalers 5: Blow me down! Three consecutive multi-goal wins as part of a 5-2-0 stretch is a heck of a way to end the first half for the Whalers. On the heels of a 4-1 rout of Eboracum, and not terribly far removed from a 4-0 dismantling of DC, Sept-Iles blasted Mancunium 5-2 in their final game before the All-Star break. Gaston Fortin scored twice in the first period to put the Whalers ahead, and Rene Kelly and Denis Babin pushed the lead to 4-0 by the end of the second period. Matt Harmon and Brandon Scanlon broke the shutout for Mancunium in the third period, but the result was already determined at that point. Jean-Luc Broussard's goal at 17:43 capped the scoring, causing the fairly significant Whalers contingent in the stands to roar with approval. The Whalers have now leaped into a three-way tie for fifth place, and are certainly the hottest team of the three, if not the entire league. Are they peaking at the right time or is this a brief run of brilliance that will fade in the second half? Only time will tell. With Aquae Sulis' and Newfield's wins, the Raiders are back in 11th place. Their 27 points from 33 games is pretty much on pace with last year, which is not at all what ownership wanted. Their second half will either be a fight for respectability or a fire sale.
Londinium Royals 4, Vinovium Lumberjacks 2: Two games to end the first half against cellar-dwelling teams, two chances to end the Royals' four-game losing streak, four points on the line. Break the losing streak? Check. Two wins? Check. Four points? Check. Inspire confidence going into the second half? Umm...mostly check? It's true that the Royals defeated Newfield 1-0 to break the streak, and finished off the first half with a win at home over Vinovium, 4-2. But a 1-0 win over a team on a serious losing streak, falling behind 1-0, and conceding a tying goal to make it 2-2 against the last-place team in the league before rallying for the win isn't exactly the performance you want to see. Ben Malone and Nico Nielsen had the go-ahead and game-sealing goals in the third period for Londinium in this last game. The good news is, they got the four points and are firmly in fourth place. They're four and five points clear of the gaggle of teams jostling behind them, but they will need to play more consistently, or they'll be eclipsed. As for the Lumberjacks, Kevin Morgan and Parker Martindale had their goals in a spirited two-period effort. Under interim head coach Dean Collins, the team has gone 8-14-1 in 23 games for 17 points. That's not an impressive full-season pace (49 points), but it represents a serious improvement from their 1-8-1 start. Development is the name of the game at this point, but they might unload some veterans if teams higher up in the standings show interest.
Labrador Caribou 0, Isca Town Captains 1: The Captains broke their own three-game losing streak, getting a second-period goal from Zeke Moseley to down Labrador on the road and claim their 26th win going into the All-Star break. Coming in, they'd lost three straight to the likes of Mancunium, Aquae Sulis, and Pons Aelius, so getting back on track was key. For the Caribou, this was a missed opportunity to pick up points at home against a suddenly vulnerable Isca Town team. Two points could have gotten that much closer to Londinium and therefore the playoffs. Instead, they were shut down by the Captains. It was their closest loss yet, but they still have not managed to score a single goal against Isca Town in their three meetings. They now find themselves at 15-12-6, 36 points, four out of the playoffs, battling three other teams for the right to be the team right behind Londinium, which still isn't in the playoffs. A strong second-half performance is imperative for this club, or they could find themselves fading into irrelevance. As for Isca Town, they're behind last year's pace, but still comfortably in the playoffs (14 points ahead of 4th place Londinium) and in first (four points up on Pons Aelius), but the Steelers appear to be gunning for first as well, so strap in for a second-half battle.
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