2009–10 D1 Post-Season recap

April 14, 2010

The D1 Spiders ran through their post-season set like they ran through the season: a loss, a tie, and a win. A long-shot for the playoffs, the Spiders snuck in by stealing the fourth and final spot from the Fighting Ice Fish in the last week of the regular season. With the fourth-place finish, the Spiders were slotted as the fourth seed in D1 Pool B, with the Chaos, D1 East Royals and D1 East Ice Gators taking the first three seeds.

The Spiders opened the playoffs just like the regular season. And just like that first game, the Spiders were outhustled by a skilled and seasoned Chaos squad. Despite holding the Chaos off the scoreboard until late in the second, a Spider breakdown of epic proportions handed the game and the critical two points in the standings to the Chaos.

Next up for the Spiders, a familiar opponent from seasons’ past in the second-seeded Royals, who had ended the regular season in second place in D1 East, and had just shut out the 3-seed Ice Gators 1–0 in the first playoff game. The Spiders/Royals game was a back-and-forth affair, eventually ending in a 3–3 stalemate and a single point each in the standings. On the same ice sheet (and same dressing area), the Chaos handled the Ice Gators 4–2, to keep their familiar first-place spot in the standings.

In the final round-robin game, the Spiders came back up against the Ice Gators, the same Ice Gators they had seen twice in the playoffs last year. Faced with a potential tie in the standings, the Spiders needed to score early and often to claim the goals-for-differential tiebreaker over the Royals, who needed to lose to the Chaos for the Spiders to get the invite for the Pool Championship. The Spiders did their part, controlling the game from end to end, and racking up enough insurance goals to claim that tiebreaker, with a 6–1 final. However, the Chaos failed to do their part, instead tying the Royals 4–4, giving the Royals an extra point in the standings and the invite to the championship Saturday night. Duly eliminated, the Spiders spilled out of SLP and headed to the closest establishment to celebrate the season.

The Royals and Chaos headed back to BIG Saturday night, where the Chaos won 2–1 to get the invite to the BIG dance Sunday.

Over in Pool A, the top-seeded Yellow Jackets found getting post-season points a more difficult proposition than they did in the regular season, ending with a single point from a tie with the third-seed Diablos. The Fighting Piranhas were in the same lagoon, netting a win and a tie for three points. Last year’s (and the year before…) three-and-out Lumberjacks finally found a way to win in the post-season, putting away a win and a pair of ties, enough to get themselves into the pool final Saturday night. But they hit the wall of the Diablos Saturday night, who had a win and a pair of ties in the round-robin, and finally turning up the pressure for the pool championship, putting away the Lumberjacks 3–0. The victory gave the Diablos their third consecutive invite to the BIG dance.

In 2007–08, they were shut out 2–0 by eventual C2ers the Nemesis. In 2008–09, they were shut out 5–0 by your Spiders. And … this year, the Chaos at least made it interesting, giving the Diablos some scoreboard action. But in the end, the Diablos went down for their third consecutive final defeat, 3–2 to the D1 Champs the Chaos.

Congrats are in order for the Chaos, as this win means they have won their championship three years running, in the 2008 Beginner School, in D2 in 2008–09, and now in D1 in 2009–10. In honor of the win, ahadictionary.com has reportedly changed the spelling of dynasty.

D1 Pool A (with regular season record):

1. Yellow Jackets (16–2–2; 34 pts.)
2. Fighting Piranhas (16–2–1–1; 34 pts.)
3. Diablos (12–8; 24 pts.)
4. Lumberjacks (11–6–1–2; 25 pts.)

D1 Pool B:

1. Chaos (17–2–1; 35 pts.)
2. Royals (15–2–1–2; 33 pts.)
3. Ice Gators (14–5–1; 29 pts.)
4. Spiders (10–8–2; 22 pts.)

Post-season standings

And for posterity, the D2 results, as some of these teams may move up to D1 next year. The Puck Hounds beat the Ice Dogs for the championship.

Post-season details for D2: