Plenty of surprises after Day 2 at Championship Series

February 15, 2014

It was a busy day on Saturday at the NAPHL Championship Series.  The Gold Divisions got underway and the Silver Divisions have completed their round-robin portion. Sunday will see the Gold Division complete their round-robin, while the Silver Division finalists will be decided.

 

Watch all the game Sunday live on FASTHockey

 

 

Each team played once on Day 1.  The surprises of the day game in the A Pool where both the lower seeds won over the top seeds.  The #8 seed California Titans got 36 saves from Joe Licata in a 4-3 win over top-seeded Anaheim. The #5 seed West Michigan Hounds got 34 saves from Hunter Vorva in a 2-1 win over the #4 Lansing Captials. In the B Pool, the top seeds dominated the first games. The #3 Esmark Stars showcased their signature defense in a 5-0 shutout of the #6 seeded Pikes Peak Miners. Cole Hepler had two goals in the win. #2 seeded Omaha had no problem with the #7 seeded Pursuit of Excellence team. Nathan Medeiros had a goal and three assists in the win.

 

The Semi-Finals are set in the Consolation bracket as the Texas Tornado finished atop of the Silver A Division with a 2-0-1 record.  In the semi-finals, they will face the #2 seed from the Silver B Division, which the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks.  The Lumberjacks finished in a three-way tie for 2nd place with San Jose and Atlanta with 1-2 records, however Cleveland had the best goal differential in the games played between the three tied teams. The New Jersey Jr. Titans finished atop of the Silver B Pool with a perfect 3-0 record. In the semi-finals, they will face the Phoenix Firebirds, who finished with a 2-1 record along with St. Louis, but won the head to head tie-breaker with the Selects.

 

In the Gold A Division, things went true to form in the first two games. Omaha beat Pikes Peak and Anaheim by a combined 11-1. Tarek Baker and Wade Allison both had five points in the two wins. The #4 Lansing Capitals have three points with a 1-0-1 record thanks to a 3-0 win over Pikes Peak and shootout loss to Anaheim. Anaheim had a shootout win over Lansing and a loss to Omaha to finish Day 1 at 1-1.  Pikes Peak was outscored 7-0 and sit at 0-2 and have been eliminated from advancing to the semi-finals. In the Gold B Division, the #2 New Jersey Jr. Titans went 2-0 on Day 1 and booked a trip to the semi-finals with wins over St. Louis and Esmark. After a loss to New Jersey in the morning, St. Louis beat San Jose in the nightcap to finish Day 1 at 1-1.  Esmark also finished at 1-1 in the first day as they beat San Jose in a shootout and lost to New Jersey by a goal. The #2 ranked Sharks have been eliminated from semi-final contention after earning just a point for their shootout loss.

 

The Semi-Finals are set after California won the Silver A Pool with a 3-0 record outscoring their opponents 34-6.  In the semi-finals they will face the Texas Tornado, who finished 2-1 and in 2nd place in the B Pool. Pursuit of Excellence beat Texas in the final round-robin game to win the B Pool with a 3-0 record. They will face the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks in the semi-finals who finished in 2nd place in the A Pool with a 2-1 record. After failing to win a game during the regular season, Cleveland won their final two round-robin games to advance to the semi-finals.