March 6th
KINGS
3 RANGERS 1
The first place Kings were faced with a tough challenge by the eighth place Rangers in
this first round game. The Rangers scored first on a Matt Smith blast a little over three minutes into the contest , but less
than thirty seconds later Brandon Kenyon slipped in behind the Ranger defense to even the score. Kenyon again got free and
scored about two minutes later during a King power play. Then less than two minutes later Samantha Denton gave them a two
goal lead when she stole the puck from the Ranger defense and fired it into the net. The rest of the way was a scoreless struggle
with both teams unable to score in the last two periods
RED WINGS
8 BRUINS 3
This game was
much closer than the final score indicates.The Red Wings got off to a two goal lead in the first period on early goals by
Wyatt Ledford and Mike Mesler. The Bruins Seth Gurd got a goal late in the second period, but the Wings Tanner Brownell was
able to blast one in with only 32 seconds left in the period to regain the two goal lead. The Bruins were again able to make
it a one goal game with a Logan Ramey tally about half way through the third, but again Mesler scored on a bad angle shot
to get the Wings back their two goal lead. Ramey however again scored for the Bruins to make it close once more with only
1:42 left to play. At that point the Bruin’s goalie was pulled and unfortunately for them the Wings took advantage to
score four empty net goals, one each by Ledford, Jarrett Hickey, Mesler, and Brownell.
March 7th
BLACKHAWKS 4 NORTHSTARS 0
The
Blackhawks got a goal from Jacob Brighton at the beginning of the first period, but were not able to beat the Northstars goalie
Cameon Pifer again until Brighton did it again in the third period to give the Hawks some breathing room. Alaina Cobb and
Drew Allen also had third period goals to salt away the victory. Hawk goalie Makayla Brown who had 4 regular season shutouts
this year stopped several good Northstars scoring chances.
SENATORS
4 BLUES 1
The Senators got a goal from rookie Alison Dodge with 3:25 left in the first period and
then about a minute later Jordan Jenkins scored directly from a faceoff. The Blues’ Luke Cosgrove scored less than thirty
seconds after that to make it a one goal game at the end of the first. The Senators top scorers Gunner Tobias and Corey Turner
combined for a couple more goals in the second period and the Senators defense led by Kayla Dankenbring and Luke Robles didn’t
let the Blues scorers have many chances the rest of the way to cement the victory.
SEMI-FINALGAMES
March 9th
Senator 2
Kings 1 OT
This game was a hard fought one from beginning to end with both
goalies, Mark Dixon for the Senators and Jordan Denton of the Kings being called on to make many good saves. After a scoreless
back and forth first period the Kings seemed to on their way to a victory as Marcus Wessner grabbed a loose puck just inside
the Senators side of center and blasted a high hard shot that beat Dixon cleanly about halfway through the second. The Kings
really went on the offense at that point and Dixon had to make some really fine saves to keep his team in the game. In the
third period it was the Senators that really pressed and Jordan Denton making some saves that had the Senators shaking their
heads in disbelief. In desperation, as the clock was running out, the Senators pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.
With only 21 seconds remaining Katie Dixon took a pass in front of the Kings goal and roofed it past Denton to send the game
into overtime. Less than two minutes into the extra period the Senators Alec Hosmer banged the puck hard off the back wall
on a perfect angle for the Senators leading scorer of the 09 regular season Corey Turner who smashed it past the diving King
goalie into the net to give them the upset victory.
Blackhawks 3 Red Wings 2
The Blackhawks got an early goal from Jacob Brighton on a pass from his big brother
Andrew less than a minute into the contest. Then with a little over two minutes remaining in the first period both brothers
assisted on a Drew Allen goal to give the Hawks a two goal margin. At 8:32 of the second period Wyatt Ledford got the Wings
on the board with assists from Mike Mesler and Tanner Brownell. However the Hawks came right back when the Brighton brothers
got the puck to Hannah Hammond who got off a nifty little shot from in front of the net over Wing goalie Greg Glass’s
shoulder, even though the Red Wing defense was right on the job fighting to clear the puck. Within the last two minutes of
the second period the Red Wings once again made it a one goal game as Mike Mesler’s hard shot just got over the line
on Hawk goalie Maykayla Brown. The third period was scoreless despite both teams having power play chances and the Wings pulling
their goalie for the last 43 seconds.
MARCH 12th FINAL
Senators 4 Blackhawks 0
The first period saw both teams get chances at both ends early, but the Senators
at 6:21 were able to move the puck quickly from their end down to Kayla Dankenbring who shot the puck into the upper part
of the Blackhawk net. Dankenbring was a surprising start at forward as she had been an outstanding player on the defense for
the Senators in their first two playoff wins. There were no other scores until Gunner Tobias was able to bounce a hard shot
past Hawk goalie Maykayla Brown from out near the center line at 7:58 of the second period. Mark Dixon in goal for the Senators
allowed no Blackhawk rebound chances as the Hawks pressed hard to try to get back in the game. The Senators defense of Lucas
Robles, Tia James, Jordan Jenkins, and Cassidy Fisher also made life difficult for the Hawks to keep anything going in the
Senators end. Early in the third period the Senators puck control experts of Tobias, Alex Hosmer, and Corey Turner combined
on a Turner goal from a hard corner shot to the upper part of the Hawk net. Kayla Dankenbring soon after again scored from
close in to the top part of the Blackhawk net ending much hope of a comeback by last year’s champs, although they played
hard right up to the final buzzer.
